Bhubaneswar/Cuttack, Aug. 4: A fresh spell of heavy rain, which had been happening in spurts since Tuesday, left several areas of the twin cities underwater today as ill-maintained drainage channels failed to take the water out.
As several localities remained waterlogged in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, morotists and commuters had a tough time wading through inundated streets.
In the twin cities, 90mm of rain since Tuesday night was enough to paralyse normal life. Much of this pain was due to clogged drains.
In Bhubaneswar, several streets and some stretches of the National Highway No. 16 and the Cuttack-Puri state highway were underwater.
The Regional Meteorological Centre in Bhubaneswar said that more rain was in store. The Met office said the low-pressure area formed over the northwest Bay of Bengal yesterday was still active and might continue to trigger heavy rain over the next 48 hours.
Residents of both the cities criticised the civic bodies for failing to deliver whenever there is heavy rain. They alleged that in spite of the Met department's forecast of heavy rain, the municipal corporations did not take prior steps to ensure that the drains were not clogged.
Delay in operating high-power motor pumps also aggravated waterlogging in several areas, many residents said. Several localities including Sutahat, Patapole, Pithapur, Badambadi, Arunodaya Nagar, Samant Sahi, Stewart Patna, Sidheswar Sahi and Tulasipur in Cuttack remained waterlogged till late this evening.
"The main storm water channels and other surface drains need to be kept free from blockages so that there is no problem in the discharge of the excess rainwater in case of heavy rain. But it seems the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) did not take adequate measures to clear the drains," said Umashankar Pradhan, a resident of Sidheswar Sahi.
Commuters on the Cuttack-Puri state highway in Bhubaneswar were affected, mainly near Bomikhal where the works department had taken up the construction of a railway overbridge. Construction of the overbridge has halted work on the drain in the area. This led to water overflowing on to the road. Residents had to deal with water running into their homes.
Works department officials said they were working on a war footing to complete the construction on the railway overbridge. "Our officials are working day and night to complete the work. Once the bridge job is done, the drain will also be constructed and the problems will end," assured an official.
Local resident Jayanti Mishra said the administration has been constructing the drain since the last one year, but there is no sign of completion. "I think the administration couldn't expedite or complete the work on this drain because of the overbridge construction. This has led to problems for us as the water from the road often enters our homes. It's drain water so gives off a foul odour," said Mishra.
Commuters faced similar problems in Cuttack as several prominent streets including KVK Road, Seminary Chak, Gangamandir Road, Kesharpur, Meria Bazaar, Friends Colony Road, Nandi Sahi, and Bhagatpur Road were inundated today.
People had to wade through knee-deep water to reach their destinations, while traffic moved at a snail's pace because of poor road conditions.
"Traffic was heavy and very slow because of the waterlogging and lack of measures to repair roads that were earlier dug up to facilitate construction under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) project," said Pradip Swain, a commuter.
Senior officials of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation, however, claimed that as the city had witnessed over 55mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours, a fresh spell of rain today had created hurdles in the fast clearance of rainwater through the drainage channels.
"There were problems in the discharge of rainwater because of a blockage due to the Jica construction near Sutahat on the main storm water channel, which led to water-logging. The blockage was removed in the presence of CMC officials," said municipal commissioner Gyana Das.
Das said the civic body had deployed over 150 motor pumps to flush out accumulated water from several localities in the city.
