Orissa witnesses flood of rare severity

Express News Service
21 Sep 2008 03:07:00 AM IST

BHUBANESWAR: A rampaging Mahanadi and its branch rivers forced their way into the deltaic region with an alarming ferocity sweeping village after village and taking about two million people in their grip as Orissa stood witness to one of the worst floods in its history.

With over 4,000 villages in 17 districts facing the fury, the Mahanadi river system accounted for the most. At least 4 lakh people were marooned in Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Cuttack and Puri districts while flood water submerged more areas breaching river embankments. There were 31 breaches in the four districts compounding the misery of people who spent sleepless nights on the embankments keeping a watch on the water level.