Malkangiri: Several regions of this district remained cut off from the headquarters Saturday due to flood in various rivers caused by incessant rain over the last 24 hours.
The district recorded 491 mm of rainfall till Saturday morning. The water levels in Poteru, Sileru, Saberi and Saptadhara rivers were increasing till the filing of this report.
Meanwhile, communication between Malkangiri and other areas including Balimela, Chitrakonda and several regions of Andhra Pradesh has been disrupted as three ft high floodwater was flowing on the road at Tarlakota of MV-37 village.
Other pockets like Kalimela, Padia, Motu and MV-79 also remained inaccessible from the district headquarter after submersion of a bridge across river Poteru. Several vehicles were seen stranded on either side of the river.
While flow of 5 ft high floodwater on a bridge at Kangurukonda has snapped links between Malkangiri and Kalimela, inundation of a bridge across river Saberi disrupted communication with Sukma district of neighbouring Chhattisgarh.
Additional district magistrate Raghumani Gamang said in the wake of the rising water level, the district administration has kept adequate stock of dry food, polythene sheets and boats to face any kind of eventuality.
On the other hand, the ongoing indefinite strike by revenue officials can affect the rescue and relief operations in case of flood, feared locals. District emergency officer Tapan Nayak said officials and employees of other departments would be asked to render their services in such a scenario. PNN
