At least 25 persons have lost their lives and thousands evacuated in the last four days in Odisha where the flood situation continues to be grim in some parts of the state.
Post cyclone Phailin, Odisha is now witnessing floods because of continuous rains for the last few days, forcing thousands of villagers to flee their homes.
A breach in the embankment of the river Malaguni resulted in flooding of the Kanas block that is located in the Puri district of Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha.
The areas that have been affected by floods include Baku, Balabhadrapur, Deipur, Adal, Chupuri, Divyasinghpur, Nuapara, Kadua Dokanda, and nine gram panchayats in Kanas block, which is reeling under floods since October 21.
The flooded villages remained inaccessible till October 22, while the government has set up rescue operations and is trying to restore life back to normal at the earliest.
Sub-collector of Puri, Madhusudhan Das, said they are trying their level best to provide assistance at every level.
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"We have arranged for dry fruits and have also taken efforts for evacuation; some people have been evacuated. We have arranged free kitchen for them. Houses have been damaged on a large scale. We are trying our level best to finish the huge amount of work within a week and we will also provide them assistance for house damage. Crop loss is also under enumeration," he said.
The government has claimed that several boats were put into service to rescue the villagers. The rescued villagers have been served with flattened rice, molasses, drinking water and medicines. The relief camps will continue for 14 days.
Raghumath, a villager, however, said the relief material has not reached to all the rescued villagers.
"The floods have been around for four days, the flood water entered our village suddenly. We tried to save our belongings, but could not. At last we ran away to a safe place. Now the problem is that we don't have food to eat and are staying under the open sky," he said.
Although the water had started receding, around 50,000 affected villagers have nowhere to go as their houses were almost washed away by the floods.
Meanwhile, the incessant rains have claimed as many as 29 lives in Andhra Pradesh during the past four days. Over 72,000 people have been evacuated from the low-lying areas.
The Met department has forecast heavy downpour in the next 48 hours in Andhra Pradesh. Scores of villages across the remained submerged, while road and rail routes were affected as the rain fury continued today.