Incessant heavy rains in most parts of the State since last two days have triggered a flood situation, as a result of which road and railway communications have been hit in several locations.
Road communication in Kalahandi district has been disrupted as floodwaters of Hati river were overflowing at a height of two feet over the Hati bridge at Junagarh since Sunday evening. It also severed the road connection between Nabarangpur and Kalahandi. Reports from Nabarangpur district said road communication from the district to Umarkote and Kalahandi district were disrupted as floodwaters of the Indravadi, Bhaskel, Tel, Turi, Makia, Dhanasuli, Angi and Petaphula rivers submerged the Nabarangpur-Umarkote road.
In Nayagarh district, most parts of the low-lying areas were submerged by waters of the Kaligiri and Brutanga rivers, as a result of which nearly 14,000 people of Bhapur and Gania blocks were marooned for last three days. Road communications to these blocks were severed due to flowing of floodwaters on the Gania-Rasanga and Mahamaya-Kadua roads, reports said.
The road communications in several low-lying areas of Baleswar, Bhadrak and Puri districts were also hit due to heavy rains and overflow of river waters. In Cuttack district, the road between Talabasta panchayat and Banki was cut off due to overflowing of waters at a height of three feet on the road.
Reports from Angul district said the road communication between Athmallik and Boinda was cut off as a temporary bridge at Sanahula was swept away by the overflowing waters of Sanahula Nullah.
Besides, the road between Athmallik and Boudh was also cut off as the Mahanadi floodwaters were flowing 15 feet over the Manitri and Khadarapada bridges.
Similarly, the rains also disrupted train services in the Angul-Sambalpur and Rayagada-Koraput routes of the East Coast Railway (ECoR) in south and western Odisha.
ECoR sources said train services in Angul-Sambalpur route has been disrupted due to overflowing of rainwater on the tracks between Sargipali and Handapa stations, while train services in Rayagada-Koraput section was partially disrupted in the morning hours due to landslide between Keutguda and Sikarpai stations.
In view of this, ECoR has decided to cancel and short-terminate some trains in the interest of safety of train operations.
The Sambalpur-Koraput-Sambalpur passenger would be cancelled on August 5 from both the directions while Rourkela-Koraput Express leaving Rourkela and Visakhapatnam-Koraput Express leaving Visakhapatnam was cancelled. Besides, Koraput-Visakhapatnam Express, scheduled to leave Koraput on August 5, was also cancelled.
Apart from this, Bhubaneswar-Jagadalpur Express, leaving Bhubaneswar on August 4, would run only up to Rayagada and return back from Rayagada to Bhubaneswar on August 5 and remain cancelled between Rayagada and Jagadalpur from both the directions on August 5.
Visakhapatnam-Kirandul passenger leaving Visakhapatnam on August 4 would run up to Koraput and return back from Koraput to Visakhapatnam. The train will remain cancelled between Koraput and Kirandul from both the directions on Tuesday. Howrah-Jagdalpur Samaleswari Express, scheduled to leave Howrah on August 4, would run up to Titilagarh and return back from Titilagarh to Howrah on August 5. The train will remain cancelled between Titilagarh and Jagadalpur from both the directions the next day.