Basudevpur: Come October 29, villagers of Chandanpur under this block in Bhadrak district shudder to recall the Super Cyclone of 1999, which caused large scale devastation and claimed nine lives.
Seventeen years after the devastating gale, the heartrending incident of nine villagers having drowned in the strong currents of river Kansabansa while going to safety in a boat is still etched in the memories of villagers.
The cyclone had severely shaken the economic backbone of the state by causing gargantuan devastation to properties and lives. Basudevpur was not spared by the calamity.
Villagers recall the ill-fated night of October 29, when some people of the village, braving strong gale and piercing rains under the cover of darkness, boarded three boats to cross the river to safety, but it was not to be. Two of the boats capsized and nine persons vanished in the swirling waters in a jiffy. Six of them belonged to one family.
Those who met with their watery graves were Rajani Dixit (52), Ratikant Dixit (20), Pratibha Dixit (35), Monalisa Dixit (9), Karunakar Dixit (14), Pinki Dixit (2) and Mukuri Dixit (70) of Chandanpur, Ranjita Sahu of Guda, Dignanmabar Behera of Jagatpur in Cuttack.
The last two had come to visit their maternal uncle’s houses a day before the gale.
Three other persons of the village – Shantilata Dixit, Suryamani Dixit and Anupama Dixit – recalled the happenings of the horrific night. They had clung to a tree for 26 hours before being rescued.
Narrating her near-death experience, Parbati Dixit said she had climbed a tree where several snakes had already wound themselves around its branches and trunk. She had to stay there for 24 hours braving stinging rains and howling icy winds.
Ramamani Dixit was in tears when she narrated her horrible experience that the gale left for her.
The bodies of the deceased were found October 31. Nishikant Dixit, a relative of the six deceased, said, October 31 every year, the family throws a spread to local people in remembrance of the deceased. PNN
