Flood situation continues to be grim in Orissa

Pipli (Orissa)/Pilibhit (Uttar Pradesh), Sept 25 : Flood-situation in Orissa remained grim with hundreds of thousands of people still stranded in villages with no food and water.

Despite falling water level in rivers including the Mahanadi, surging waters from over 100 breaches continued to submerge fresh areas in coastal areas of the State.

Inundation of more areas in Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur and Cuttack districts worsened the plight of the marooned villagers in Mahanadi delta region with relief teams still finding it tough to reach many inaccessible pockets.

Around 16 villages in Pipli District of the State continued to grapple with floods, which have wreaked havoc in the state for the past few days.

"We are stranded since last four days. Nobody is helping us, government is not bothered. Around 200-300 people are still stranded in villages. No boats reached our village and people are staying on roof with no food and water," said Bana Mohanty, a flood victim.

Reports said that naval teams intensified relief work on Wednesday to reach out to the people hit by floods which have claimed at least 37 lives so far.

Rescue workers have evacuated some 200,000 people after flooding by Mahanadi till now.

Large parts of Orissa were inundated after authorities were forced to open dozens of sluice gates of a dam on the Mahanadi River following heavy rain in the catchment area.

In Uttar Pradesh too floods in Pilibhit District have created havoc and people are blaming the district administration of not informing residents before releasing water from Nanak Sagar dam located near the district.

"This is happened first time in the history of 50 years that administration did not inform us and in fact maximum volume of water was released this time. District administration is not even bothered about the losses that people have suffered. Property and jewellery worth hundreds of thousands of rupees got drowned in water," said Riyaz Ahmed, legislator, Pilibhit.

Army was called in to rescue tens of thousands of stranded villagers in Uttar Pradesh, officials said.

At least 14 more people drowned on Tuesday night in Uttar Pradesh, raising the death toll from floods in the state to more than 200 in the past four days, as per officials.

ANI