BHUBANESWAR: The sudden downpour on Wednesday morning inundated several areas of the Capital and crippled normal life. According to officials in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), residents of Gouri Nagar in Old Town and Chintamaniswar in Laxmisagar complained of rain water flooding their areas. People living in Chakeisiani also faced waterlogging.To flush out the rain water from Gouri Nagar, fire services personnel were pressed into service after 10:30 am. It took eight fire services personnel and at least six hours to flush out the water with the help of a pump.
The sudden rain also hit normal life with several trains getting delayed or cancelled. About 10 trains were delayed due to bad weather. Some of the trains which got delayed area are Secunderabad-Howrah Falaknuma Express, Bengaluru Cant-Bhubaneswar Express, Puri-New Delhi Nandankanan Express and others.Similarly, 7 trains were cancelled due to stormy weather including, Cuttack-Paradip passenger train, Cuttack-Bhadrak passenger train, among others.
Railway officials informed that operations were hampered due to stormy weather with overhead wires getting snapped at some places. The signalling system was also affected due to the rough weather. Hundreds of passengers were stranded after overhead electric wire was damaged between Lingaraj and Retang stations. Flight operations also took a hit due to the heavy rains and gusty wind. Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) Director Suresh Hota informed that Bhubaneswar-bound flight from New Delhi was diverted to Kolkata in the morning due to bad weather.
Deputy Commissioner, BMC, Srimanta Mishra said “The drains were choked in Chintamaniswar, following which the water logging was cleared. In Gouri Nagar, the water was being pumped out,” Mishra said.About the Corporation’s plans for monsoon, Mishra said the tender process for desilting drains in the Capital has already begun. “The tender process for desilting drains has commenced and it will be finalised within four to five days. The drains will be cleared before every monsoon for avoiding water logging,” he added.