Odisha now has to bear the brunt of severe floods triggered by the Cyclone Phailin, which struck the state on the 12th of this month. Thousands of people have been hit and few lakhs have been marooned in Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts when heavy rains caused severe floods in the Budhabalanga River, with Subarnarekha and Vaitarani flowing above the danger mark. The other flood-hit districts in the state include Jajpur and Bhadrak.
Though the loss of human life was minimised to a large extent due to well-timed predictions and advance preventive measures, the authorities could not battle with gusty winds and heavy rain to save property, crops and livestock. The states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh are now left with the colossal task of relief and rehabilitation of victims.
Meticulous operations have already started in the Ganjam district, where the cyclone made a landfall and is believed to be the worst affected. Evacuated residents are returning home and are relying on the administration to help them regain normal mode of livelihoods.The woes of poor farmers in the affected states have increased manifold as their crops have been destroyed along with their washed away kuccha huts and family's possessions.
To meet the daunting task of bringing back life to normalcy after the cyclone killed around 28 people, brought floods in nearly 16,000 villages, and severely hit over 1.2 crore people, the government and disaster management forces have been dispatching truckloads of rice and food packets to the affected villages. Defence forces have also been alerted in case heavy rains in Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal bring any kind of flood situation.
picture courtesy- orissa diary
