Rivers breach at several places; one killed
About four lakh villagers were in a deplorable condition as flash flood in rivers Baitarani, Budha, Kharasrota, Bramahani and their tributaries caused havoc in large areas of the Badachana, Dasarathpur, Bari, Jajpur, Rasulpur, Korei and Dharmasala blocks on Wednesday.
The rivers breached at six places in the district. Around 280 villages of 73 Gram Panchayats were affected in the floods. Over 50,000 people were evacuated from the marooned areas. About 75,000 people were stranded on the rooftops without food and drinking water.
“We are living in great trouble. Flood snatched away everything from us. The Government is insensitive towards our plight. Not a single grain of relief has reached us in last 48 hours,” bemoaned Ekadasi Nayak of Dasarathpur village.
The river Budha had breached at Trilochanpur on Tuesday for which many villages were marooned and Subrat Panda (27) of Trilochanpur village was swept away in the flood water. His body was found a km downstream on Wednesday.
“I spent two days on my rooftop. I was saved by some villagers,” said a little relaxed Rajani Samal of Kasapa village. Many pregnant women were in deep trouble in flood affected areas as they could not move easily.
The water level in rivers Baitarani, Budha and Kharosotra was rising on Wednesday affecting more villages. The ten km long main road from Jajpur to Barua was now under four feet flood water disrupting road communication.
The flood water also marooned large patches of agricultural fields in many villages. Four teams of NDRF were in Jajpur for rescue operation.
“The district administration has deployed many boats in the riverside areas to rescue the flood-affected villagers.
We stocked dry food and other relief items in all the Gram Panchayats. All the cyclone shelters and many school buildings are providing shelter to the flood-affected people,” said district Collector Anil Samal.
“The rivers breached at many places due to poor repair works. Unsafe embankments in many places are also on the verge of collapse due to substandard repair work. The riverside villagers are spending sleepless nights,” alleged senior Congress leader and former Minister Sarat Rout.