BHUBANESWAR: Residents of several gram panchayats in Odisha’s Khurda and Puri district on Wednesday battled flood-like situation following heavy spells of rainfall in river upstream areas.
Under the impact of incessant rainfall, swelling of floodwater from Rajua river, a tributary of Daya river submerged around 25 villages in five Panchayats of Khurda including Obarasingh, Dihakhala, Manapur and Orami.
The acute water-logging threw normal life out of gear cutting connectivity to and from the region. Local residents are experiencing a hard time after being unable to get any relief and assistance from the administration.
Local BJP leader Kalu Khandayatray said despite repeated backwater flood due to Rajua river, the administration was not taking any sincere attempts to find a solution by constructing a permanent embankment.
“Even though three days have elapsed since flooding in the area, no assistance or cooked food has been provided to the people,” Khandayatray said.
Due to rise in Daya, Luna, Makara and Rajua rivers, as many as six panchayats of Kanasa block in Puri district have been submerged. Balipatana and Dokanda village have also been completely marooned by the floodwater.
Locals alleged that opening of sluice gates of Hirakud dam was the prime cause behind a sudden rise in water level of the tributaries.
Elsewhere, Mahanadi also witnessed a large inflow of water due to discharge from Hirakud dam. Even though the dam authorities closed 10 gates of the reservoir, the large amount of floodwater which was released from the reservoir a day before was causing the rise in the water level and the subsequent flooding in Banki area of Cuttack district.
On Wednesday, the Meteorological Department issued further rainfall warning for several parts of the state under the impact of a fresh trough line over Chhattisgarh-Odisha-Jharkhand.
The weatherman issued an orange warning to several districts and predicted heavy rainfall for 12 districts till September 14.
