Bhubaneswar: Arun Mallick, a construction worker from Mangalpur in Jajpur district, had never imagined that he would witness the kind of devastation that torrential rainfall can cause.

The 23-year-old, who was staying in Thrissur in Kerala, witnessed first hand the havoc that rain wreaked as water started to creep into his home and continued to rise.

He had stocked household articles for his family members with an eye on Durga Puja, but the flood water swept all those away, a teary-eyed Mallick said after getting off the special train that the state government had arranged to bring back Odias trapped in flood-hit Kerala.

"Though I hail from an area which has witnessed several floods, I could never imagine such devastation even in my dreams. We stayed in a nearby relief camp and we could only thinking about reaching home during our stay there. I had to walk for several kilometres to reach Kochuveli station to board this special train. I am thankful to the state government for bringing us back to our native," said Mallick.

Mallick was not the only one. Around 300 others staying in Kerala reached Bhubaneswar from Kochuveli on Wednesday. The train had left on Monday. The passengers on the first train that arrived from Kerala mostly hail from Jajpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balaosre and Keonjhar districts. Most of the passengers were staying at Aluva and Thrissur.

Thousands of Odias work as construction workers, plumbers and in plywood factories in Kerala. While hundreds of stranded Odias from districts such as Ganjam, Kandhamal and Nayagarh district reached Berhampur on Tuesday on a special train, several others are also expected to reach Odisha tonight with a special train from Thiruvananthapuram, which left for Silchar on Tuesday, expected to arrive.

"We could find little time to bring our articles as water entered our rented accommodations. All kinds of communication lines were snapped in the flood and we could not contact our family members. Not only migrant people like us, the flood affected everyone," said Sraij Jena, a Kendrapara native who worked as a plumber in Kerala.

"It was almost impossible to get out of the relief camps as the water ran on the roads for days. We didn't have any option but to wait for the water to recede. We are thankful to be alive."

A goods train packed with 500 metric tonnes of polyphone sheets left for Kerala on Wednesday evening. Railway officials said the train left Dhanmandal station in Bhadrak and was being run free of cost.