Odisha Floods: Gloomy Pictures Continue To Come From Across The State

Puri/Jajpur: With a towel on his head, a teary-eyed elderly man stuttered his helplessness while standing in chest-deep flood water right in the middle of his village. If his account of the current flood situation in Matiapada village under Puri’s Kanas block is to be believed, no relief material has reached him since the floodwater entered the village.

Locals of Benta, Kalyanpur, Kothabada, Muninda and Sauria of Puri share the same fate. They are even forced to take their cattle to rooftops to save them from the wrath of flood.

A resident of Benta, who was spotted 'sailing' through the flooded roads with the help of four empty vessels said, “Nobody has provided us any help till now. The situation is going from bad to worse with each passing day.”

Similarly, Naresh Nayak’s village, Karabar under Banki block in Cuttack, got flooded by a swelling Mahandi river. An auto-rickshaw has reportedly become the temporary shelter of Nayak and his family for the last five days.

Bringing allegations of negligence against the authorities, a dejected Nayak said, “I have brought this polythene from Banki on rent, at Rs 100 per day. Four days have passed, but there are no signs of any help from the authorities.”

The story is more or less same in all the flood-hit areas of Odisha. Some people say that there is nothing more pain-inducing and devastating than flood.

Besides, flood has also caused massive damage in Banki and villages under Similipur and Bilipada panchayat. No less than seven villages under the Banki block have been inundated in 10-15 feet flood water.

Jajpur district, which was fighting the rage of Baitarani and its tributaries for the last few days, is gradually coming back to normalcy. However, 13 out of the total 29 flood affected panchayats are still fighting to stay afloat in this terrible flood situation.

Anjana Mallick, a resident of Bari said, “My house collapsed in the flood. We do not have anything to eat since many days.”

A disturbing video surfaced from Bari area in Jajpur where a woman (reportedly bitten by snake) was carried through the flooded village roads in a large kitchen vessel to the hospital.

Assuring the affected people, Jajpur Collector Ranjan Kumar Dash said, “We have supplied rice and parched rice to many flood-affected areas in the district today. Polythene too will reach to those areas soon. Free kitchen services have been made available in more than 40 different places.”

As per reports, flood situation is under control in Bhadrak and Balasore districts.

(Edited By Pradeep Singh)

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