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The third bout of floods hit Orissa this monsoon brings more death and destruction to 12 southern in the state
Ten people have been killed in the latest round of floods in Orissa, taking the death toll in the last two months to over 24 people, the state government said on August 18. The third round of floods to have ravaged the state since the onset of the annual monsoon has caused widespread devastation in at least 12 of the state's 30 districts including the southern districts of Malkangiri, Gajapati and coastal districts of Balasore, Bhadrak and Jajpur.
The latest deaths, including those of four children, were reported from Keonjhar, Angul and Nabrangpur districts, said J N Sahu, officer on duty at the state revenue control room. They were caused by wall collapses and drowning.
Floodwaters have inundated large areas of villages and engulfed thousands of acres of agricultural land in the affected districts. The badly hit district of Malkangiri has experienced its worst flooding in years in the past 10 days. According to preliminary estimates, around 30,000 people in the district have been affected. Across the state, around 400,000 people are estimated to have been affected.
Several rivers in the state, including the Baitarani, Subarnarekha, Vansadhara, Devi and Kushabhadra, are in spate.
Road travel in Orissa has been badly hit, as breaches have developed at several places including National Highway 60 in Balasore that connects Orissa with Kolkata. On August 17, hundreds of vehicles were stranded for over 20 hours on both sides of the highway.
Orissa has been hit by floods twice in July and once in August because of a depression over the Bay of Bengal. Though the depression crossed the state's coast on August 17, the flood situation is expected to worsen as heavy to very heavy rains are likely to occur within the next two days.
Source: Indo-Asian News Service, August 18, 2006
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