Mrunal Manmay Dash

Khurda/Puri: Residents of several panchayats in Khurda and Puri district have been battling with flood-like situation following heavy spells of rainfall in river upstream areas since past few days.

Under the impact of incessant rainfall, swelling of floodwater from Rajua river, a tributary of Daya river has submerged around 25 villages in five Panchayats of Khurda including Obarasingh, Dihakhala, Manapur and Orami.

The acute waterlogging has thrown normal life out of gear cutting connectivity to and from the region. Local residents are experiencing a hard time after being unable to get any relief and assistance from the administration.

Local BJP leader Kalu Khandayatray said despite repeated backwater flood due to Rajua River, the administration is not taking any sincere attempts to find a solution by constructing a permanent embankment.

"Even though three days have elapsed since flooding in the area, no assistance or cooked food has been provided to the people," Khandayatray said.

Due to rise in Daya, Luna, Makara and Rajua rivers, as many as six panchayats of Kanasa block in Puri district have been submerged. Balipatana and Dokanda village have also been completely marooned by the floodwater.

Locals allege that opening of sluice gates of Hirakud Dam is the prime cause behind a sudden rise in water level of the tributaries.

Elsewhere, Mahanadi is also witnessing a large inflow of water due to discharge from Hirakud dam. Even though the dam authorities have closed 10 gates of the reservoir, the large amount of floodwater which was released from the reservoir a day before is causing the rise in the water level and the subsequent flooding in Banki area of Cuttack district.

Meanwhile, the Meteorological department today issued further rainfall warning for several parts of the State under the impact of a fresh trough line over Chhattisgarh-Odisha-Jharkhand.

The weatherman has issued an orange warning to several districts and predicted heavy rainfall for 12 districts till 14th September.

"Almost all the coastal districts have been alerted as there is likelihood of rain with thunderstorms in the next 24 hours. Some interior districts like, Bolangir, Boudh, Kandhamal and Sonepur have been issued lightening alerts too," said duty officer of Regional Meteorological Center, Laxmidhar Mohapatra.

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