Many people are yet to get a meal as they unable to cook the food.

“All my five family members, including the children, are in empty stomach. Though we received the rice as relief, we can’t cook it due to rain,” said Ananda Gouda, a resident of Haldiapadar village in Phailin-hit Ganjam district.

M.R.K. Patnaik, a physically challenged resident of Gandhi Nagar in Berhampur, has a different story. He is unable to go to the relief distribution centre to fetch the materials due to rain. “We have been starving since Monday evening,” he said.

“There used to be always long queue before my shop since we started distributing the relief materials. But today, as it is raining heavily, very few people turn up,” said Charulata Patra, a dealer at Jenana Hospital Road in Berhampur.

Ajay Bhuyan, a resident of Parikhi village in Balasore district, said: “The fresh rain has added to our woes. We have lost our houses and are staying under open sky. We are yet to get polythene sheets for our temporary shelter,” he said.

The state’s special relief commissioner P.K. Mohapatra admitted that the torrential rain has “badly affected” the relief and restoration in the affected areas. “We had alerted the concerned district collectors about the possibility of rain,” said Mohapatra.

Mohapatra said 4.5 lakh people in Phailin-ravaged Ganjam and flood-hit Balasore were yet to be provided relief, though other affected people in 16 other districts had already been covered. “Relief operations will continue in Ganjam and Balasore,”he said.

The greatest challenge before the administration is to restore power supply in the Phailin-hit Ganjam, where most of the electric towers and poles have been uprooted.

Prashant Chowdhury, chief executive officer of the Southern Electricity Supply Company, said: “The rain has adversely affected power restoration in Ganjam. More than five lakh consumers in the district are yet to get power supply.”

Chowdhury said power supply had been restored to around 45,000 of 80,000 consumers in Berhampur city and 1.10 lakh of 5.50 lakh consumers in Ganjam.