Rourkela: Several parts of the state witnessed traffic jams, road damage and power cuts due to heavy rainfall triggered by low pressure since Tuesday night.
The lives of slum dwellers and homeless compounded due to the rain accompanied by gusty surface wind as water entered homes at several places. It continued to rain throughout the day Wednesday also.
Sources said, many slum houses caved in Malgodam, Timbhar Colony and Panposh area in Rourkela of Sundargarh district. The slum dwellers could not come out of their houses.
The prevailing rain hindered people from going out for work who were forced to remain indoors. Even farmers had a tough time working in their agricultural fields.
Many trees were uprooted leading to power cuts. This kept the fire service personnel on their feet.
Mostly, the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack received heavy rainfall.
Areas like Bomikhal, Vani Vihar, Iskon Temple area, Acharya Vihar and Jaydev Vihar in the capital were badly hit. Parts of the Old Town were under knee-deep water. Almost all the areas in the city witnessed power cuts for at least five hours.
Adding to the woes, hour-long traffic jams were witnessed in several places in Cuttack. Areas like Kazi Bazaar, Mahidas Bazaar, Robot Street, Mehendipur, Haripur, Alamchand Bazaar and Khatbin Sahi in Cuttack were inundated.
The most-affected were school children walking their way to school. Roads have knee-deep water due to lack of proper drainage facility. Hotels and other commercial establishments were also hit by waterlogging in the streets.
As per MeT reports, the rainfall would continue in some parts of the state till June 29.
PNN