Junagarh: Thousands of residents continued to be marooned from the rest of the world by floodwaters following flash floods in river Hati triggered by incessant rain since the last four days disrupting normal lives.
Bridges and canals were washed away by swirling floodwaters. Floodwaters from Hati river flowed upto 1km in the bridge upto Baladhiamal Chhak that hit vehicular movements in the area, sources said.
On the other hand, the release of water from barrages to Hati river doubled the water level in the river.
The Bhubaneswar-Junagarh-Bhubaneswar train was halted for an unlimited period due to the seizure of a railway bridge in Therubali. Meanwhile, floodwaters lever rised upto 9feet in national highways. The district witnessed a record of 112mm rainfall Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Kalahandi district collector Anjan Manik, SP M Sandeep Sampat, Dharmagarh sub-collector Bijay Yedulla, PD Sukant Tripathy, BDO Paramabrahma Joshi, additional tehsildar Aditya Kumar Mishra visited the flood hit areas and took stock of the situation.
Many villages still reeled under floodwaters and were cut off from the rest of the world till Wednesday, it was learnt. Roads from Junagarh-Nandol, Junagarh-Kendupati, Sanaphurla-Phurla were stranded due to stagnant waters upto 9 feet. The seizure of these roads disrupted vehicles to Dharmagarh.
Meanwhile, major parts of the district reeled under darkness as electricity supply were cut off since a couple of days. Many places even had no networks and caused severe communication problems. Many electric poles were uprooted and electric wires were snapped on the effect of the flood.
Risking their lives, fire brigade personnel were seen carrying out electrification and repair works in places where electric wires were snapped. Fire brigade officer Jagannath Panda along with a team including Bideshi Rout and Prasant Kumar Bag guided the repair work.
Kalahandi district western department executive engineer Loknath Das, Dharmagarh sub-divisional officer Bhagban Sahu, Junagarh sub-divisional officer Rajesh Mishra, junior engineer Uday Sahu and Umesh Pradhan ferried in the flood waters using boats and carried out the repair works.
The district collector ordered reports of all the damaged houses and losses faced within a week. Necessary steps will be taken as the situation comes under control, the collector added. PNN
