Five people, including three minors, were killed in separate incidents of wall collapse; road communications were severed; and thousands of acres of agriculture were destroyed by floodwaters.
On August 20, heavy rain wreaked havoc across Odisha, claiming lives and damaging road infrastructure.
Five people, including three minors, were killed in separate incidents of wall collapse, road communications were severed, and thousands of acres of crop were destroyed by floodwaters.
When the wall of their home collapsed on two sisters in Mayurbhanj’s Bisoi Block, they died. Their parents are in critical condition and have been admitted to the hospital. A student named Priyansu Rajabhadra (9 years) from Koraput town died when the wall of his bathroom fell. There have been reports of deaths due to wall collapse in the districts of Balasore and Keonjhar.
Heavy rain pelted the northern Odisha districts of Mayurbhanj and Balasore, disrupting daily life. Bhogarai in Balasore district received the most rain (226mm), followed by Phiringia in Kandhamal and Nawana in Mayurbhhanj district.
According to the India Meteorological Department, Odisha, two locations experienced extremely heavy rain, while 27 IMD stations in the Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts recorded very heavy rainfall.
“The deep depression over coastal areas of West Bengal and adjoining north Odisha moved west-northwestwards at a speed of 18KM per hour during the past six hours and lay centred south Jharkhand and adjoining North Odisha and West Bengal near about 40KM south-southwest of Jamshedpur (Jharkhand), about 120KM southeast of Ranchi (Jharkhand), and 220KM east-northeast of Jharsuguda (Od
During the following 24 hours, the atmospheric system will continue to move west-northwest across Jharkhand and neighbouring north Odisha and north Chhattisgarh into north Madhya Pradesh, weakening gradually.
A bridge in Kandhamal district was swept away, disrupting vehicular traffic between Kurtamgarh and Pariguda. Similarly, hundreds of vehicles were stranded as water flowed across the route between Athagarh and Angul, and floodwater disrupted a main road between Brahamagiri and Kanas in Puri district.
Meanwhile, state government officials in Bhubaneswar predict significant rain in Chhattisgarh, which might cause the Mahanadi to flood again.
Prasanta Patnaik 
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