A man attempts to cycle through a flooded road at Jayadev Vihar in Bhubaneswar on Friday. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati
Bhubaneswar, Oct. 6: Incessant rain for three hours here this morning has left the civic body red faced with several areas getting waterlogged again.
In several areas, including Acharya Vihar, Jayadev Vihar, Nayapalli, GGP Colony, Old Town, Bomikhal, Laxmi Sagar, Jharpada and near SUM Hospital, drains overflowed and water entered houses.
Parts of the NH-5 and the Cuttack-Puri state highway also witnessed traffic jams due to the rain and flooding. The worst affected areas were Bomikhal, near Iskcon Temple, Fire Station Square and Baramunda where knee-deep water had accumulated.
The first day of the four-day Ranji Trophy match between Odisha and Tripura was washed out at the city's Vikash Ground. Even the toss could not take place because the ground was flooded and the pitch remained under covers the entire day.
With the weather experts predicting more rain till October 9, it is uncertain whether the match would be played at all.
'A brief spell of rain has revealed the city's poor infrastructure. It also exposed the civic body's bad management of drains and ill preparedness,' said Baramunda resident Nihar Ranjan Sahoo.
An inundated Baitaal Temple
The stretch on the national highway in front of Iskcon Temple on the national highway and between Bomikhal and Rasulgarh Square on the state highway remained under water due to an unfinished drain.
'We have been experiencing this for three years now. The construction of the drain is nowhere near completion and the under-construction Bomikhal flyover is adding to the problems. The rainwater has no outlet and is consequently entering the houses,' said Ganesh Hota, a resident of Bomikhal.
Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said they had expedited the drain construction and repairs on several areas with main focus on the one in front of Iskcon Temple.
'We are constructing the drains on a fast-track manner. Today, we did take efforts to clear several flooded areas with our hand-pumps,' said Jena.
The residents are a worried lot, especially because the meteorological department has predicted more rain over the next five days.
Met director Sarat Chandra Sahu said a cyclonic circulation persists over west-central Bay of Bengal and adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal off the Odisha coast and this is bringing rain to the state.
'The cyclonic system over the sea is most likely to intensify into a low pressure in the next 24 hours, which will bring in more rain,' said Sahu.
He said besides the upcoming low pressure, the southwest monsoon, which is on the verge of withdrawal from the state in the next one week, is slightly affecting the state's weather.
'The rain will further bring down the maximum and minimum temperatures in the city,' he said.
