More misery for flood-hit Odias as rains continue

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar, Aug 9: Relentless rain has compounded the miseries of over 28.59 lakh flood affected people of Odisha.The flood situation was continuing to be grim in the districts of Cuttack, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and Jajpur till Saturday evening.The floods, in two phases, have claimed as many as 37 live so far, according to the State Government.While 10 persons had been killed in Bargarh district, five each had been killed in Mayurbhanj and Sambalpur districts, four in Jajpur, three in Bhadrak, two each in Kendrapara and Khurda, and one each in Boudh, Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Kandhamal, Keonjhar and Koraput, according to official data released to the media on Saturday.On the other hand, more rains had put the flood-hit villagers in a precarious situation as little relief could reach them even after they were marooned for the past few days.The State Government admitted on Saturday that a population of 3,36,500 people were still marooned in as many as 12 districts including Jajpur, Puri, Cuttack, Nayagarh, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Puri.Even though the local administration had succeeded in making food materials reach some flood affected people, no polythene or drinking water was made available to lakhs of people even four days after flood waters entered their locality.Though a high flood had been averted in the Mahanadi delta with the maximum of 11.05 lakh cusecs of water released at Mundali barrage on Wednesday night, more than 10 lakh cusecs of water was flowing at Mundali till Saturday evening making the lives of the flood-hit population miserable.The rains had compounded their miseries, according to the reports.As many as 38 breaches had occurred in the river embankments in the flood affected districts till Saturday.”Water level is receding in many rivers but the woes of people who have taken shelter on high river embankments and other places have been multiplied due to fresh rainfall,” said Special Relief Commissioner P.K.Mohapatra. The situation was likely to remain unchanged as rain and thundershower was likely occur at most places over north Odisha and a few places over southern parts of the State during next 24 hours under the influence of a low pressure in the bay of Bengal, according to Bhubaneswar Meteorological centre.