Thousands of people remain marooned at several places in flood affected coastal districts of Odisha

Bhubaneswar: 26.10.13: The current spell of floods deluged vast areas close on the heels of the very severe cyclone of October 12 and resultant floods devastated coastal Odisha. 

At least 25 people have lost their lives due to fresh floods in Odisha. Floods, triggered by low pressure induced rain, have devastated cyclone-hit Ganjam and other coastal districts. Over 5 lakh people in more than 2,000 villages have been affected by the floods, while around 1.5 lakh people have been evacuated to safety. All rivers in Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada and Nayagarh districts are in spate. Special Relief Commissioner, P K Mohapatra said adding two others died due to wall collapse in those areas.

"Rail services disrupted with flood water flowing over tracks at several places and road transport stalled as over thousand Kilometres long roads washed away across the state. Low laying areas at numerous places were flooded. Thousands of villages and city in state marooned in especially north and south coastal districts and some parts of costal region.

State Revenue and Disaster Management Minister SN Patro said, helicopters have been pressed into service in the worst-hit Ganjam district. He said, a tie up with the Indian Air Force has been done to move NDRF battalions to different places. Patro also said, that thousands of people are trapped in the flood waters in the Aska, Sorada, Hinjili, Sergarh, Belaguntha, Rangelunda blocks Ganjam and Kasinagar,Mohana blocks of Gajapati district. Flood waters have submerged railway tracks at many places.All rivers in Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada and Nayagarh districts were overflowing, he added.

Besides Ganjam, districts like Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Cuttack, Nayagarh, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur districts were also affected by floods.

As flood waters submerged railway track at many places, all trains to south India from Bhubaneswar and Puri tomorrow have been cancelled, East Coast Railway sources said.

Nine persons sheltering on a tree near Aska were rescued last night with the NDRF and ODRF on the job, Ganjam Collector Dr. Kishan Kumar said.

Many places have now become inaccessible and relief teams could only reach them after the waters receded.

The state government announced closure of schools and colleges in coastal districts in view of the floods.

Though the intensity of rain was likely to decline, there was heavy rain in the catchment areas of rivers like Rushikulya,Mahindratanaya, Budhabalang and Baitarani, Director of the IMD centre here, Sarat Chandra Sahu said.