Water is invaluable to the farmers of the usually parched Bada Ankuala village. But when it enters homes, crushing mud walls and submerging roads and acres of farmland, it is a curse. In his village near the Luna river, Dasarathi Pradhan, who had three acres of paddy crop and a thatched hut, stands hapless in neck-deep water. The water, and his plight, has been that high since Tuesday. Like others of Bada Ankuala in Delang block, Pradhan's luck seems to have had a cold burial under water from the Luna. The misery of the 1999 supercyclone fresh in their minds, the villagers, like many others, faced a severe drought last year. 'When we wanted water, there was none. Now there is water in plenty, but useless,' Pradhan says. The 1,000-odd villagers walk up to and wait endlessly at its approach road or the one connecting Delang to Khurda, now lost under swirling waters, for food and drinking water, but return empty-handed. Unlike the floodwaters from the Luna, government relief is coming in trickles. The last lot of packed khichuri was airdropped on Friday. Villagers like Dusashan Mahunta and Purna Chandra Pradhan were among the lucky few who could get hold of it. But there was no sign of food after that as the government did not have boats to ferry them. Though some relief materials and a few boats were available at the Sujanpur panchayat office, the Bada Ankuala farmers couldn't 'force' the officials to direct them towards their village. Bauribandhu Pradhan's aged mother tries her best to light a fire in a makeshift chullah. But it is futile, as the fuel is damp. It is the same story in all the homes, whose kitchens are submerged and stocks of rice all wet. The government claimed that more than 3 lakh people are being fed through 277 free kitchens in Puri and other flood affected districts. With little relief available for human beings, the plight of cattle is understandable. The cattle of Mamata Behera in nearby Benupada village are just living on leaves. In Delang, there is no sign of a part of the 754 tonnes of cattlefeed that the state had sent to the districts. In Bhubaneswar, revenue minister Biswabhusan Harichandan, however, claimed there are only five villages that are still inaccessible. 'We are out of danger. We have enough food to feed the hungry people,' said Harichandan. Officials said more than 1,440 food packets have been airdropped through 76 sorties over 10,604 affected villages. But Bada Ankuala and hundreds of villages elsewhere continue to remain cut-off from the relief network even as officials dish out statistical details. Though the flood situation seems to be improving, the rise in water levels in Brahmani and Baitarani rivers due to a flushout of 7.9 lakh cusec from the Rengali reservoir is likely to inundate more areas in Jajpur and Kendrapara districts. The water level in Rengali river was menacingly close to the maximum level. Brahmani is likely to cross the danger level at Jenapur tonight while Baitarani has already crossed the danger mark. The official toll has touched 60 while the number of flood-affected people rose to 8 million.