The floods in river Baitarani and its tributaries have inundated a large number of villages under Dasarathpur block in Jajpur district.
The Baitarani bank breached at Patapur on Tuesday leaving about 80,000 people in 47 villages of Gopalpur, Malikapur, Dasarathpur, Tarapada, Kasapa, Ahias, Malikapur, Duduranta, Nandipur and other gram panchayats marooned.
The villagers are spending sleepless nights. They had demanded several times for repair of the embankments, but the authorities have been paying only lip service, said Basanta Sahoo of Dasarathpur.
The district administration rescued around 30,000 villagers to safer places, said Collector Anil Kumar Samal.
The embankment breach at Patapur has resulted inundation of about 30,000 acres of agricultural land. Thousands of people are drinking contaminated water.