Bhubaneswar/Cuttack: Incessant rain triggered by a low pressure over the Bay of Bengal heaped misery on twin cities' residents as many had to wade through inundated low-lying areas to reach workplaces or buy essentials on Monday.
Bhubaneswar received 156.2mm rain in 32 hours between 8.30am on Sunday and 5.30pm on Monday, throwing daily life off track. The situation was particularly bad in front of the Iskcon Temple along NH-5, where traffic came to a halt after the road went three-feet under water.
A private city bus carrying about 50 passengers had got stuck in the middle of the road near the temple for about an 90 minutes. Fire services and disaster management personnel had to be called in to rescue the stranded passengers.
"It is because of irresponsible work of civic authorities, who only believe in making tall claims," said Nayapalli resident Nityananda Jena.
There was waterlogging at Old Town, where rainwater, without being able to find an outlet, rushed into homes and the temples. Residents of Nayapalli and Acharya Vihar faced similar problems.
The civic headquarters at Gautam Nagar was flooded with complaints of waterlogging. Sources said civic officials attended calls from almost all parts of the city, including GGP Colony, Jayadev Vihar, Nayapalli, Acharya Vihar, Old Town, Soubhagya Nagar and Surya Nagar.
"We set up a helpline and attended every call. We have placed pumps in several parts of the city to pump out rainwater," said deputy commissioner Srimanta Mishra.
Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said: "Municipal officials said apart from 12 permanent pumping stations at areas prone to waterlogging, the civic body was ready with nearly 300 pumps for use across the city. While around 200 pumps are in place, the rest have been kept ready to be used according to emerging situations.
"Following intermittent rain on Monday, 155 pumps have been pressed into service at different low-lying areas," he said. "Apart from Roxy Lane, pumps are functioning at Pattapol, Rausapatna, Meria Bazar and Rajbagicha Labour Colony," Mohapatra said.
Cuttack emergency officer Pravod Rout said: "Classes in all schools were suspended on account of the rain."
