Flood situation in Orissa remains grim

Floods continued to wreak havoc in Orissa on Friday marooning hundreds and thousands of villagers.

Balasore (Orissa), Sept 28 : Floods continued to wreak havoc in Orissa on Friday marooning hundreds and thousands of villagers.

At least 23 deaths have been reported from 10 districts across the state.

The flood situation in Balasore district remained grim with several major rivers still in spate due to heavy rains over the past few days.

Flash floods triggered by low-pressure in the Bay of Bengal have marooned around 900,000 thousands villagers and caused 13 deaths in the area.

"Due to the floods everything is submerged. We are walking down to the road to get some relief. All the communication has been cut off to this village. While walking through the floodwaters there is a fear of snakes. Here in our village nobody has got any relief till now," said Ganesh Pradhan, a flood victim.

Special Relief Commissioner, Nikunja Sunderay, said that efforts are being made to control the damage caused by the floods.

"A lot of damages have occurred, but the Orissa Disaster Rapid Actionorce had swung into action in all these districts and a number of lives wereaved," he said.

Sunderay added that polythene bags, food packets and other relief material are being distributed to the flood affected villages.

According to officials, about half a million people in 610 villages are still marooned and over one million in 2,167 villages are badly affected.

ANI