JEYPORE: With only 15 mm rainfall recorded in the last 24 hours, flood situation has shown signs of improvement in Koraput and Nabarangpur districts.
However, even as water in Indravati has started receding, the situation is still of concern for people of Kotpad, Borrigumma in Koraput district and Kosagumuda in Nabarangpur district who are residing close to its banks. In some villages, though, people started returning to their houses from flood shelters on Friday.
Several pockets in Kotpad and Kosagumuda are still underwater and hundreds of acres of paddy and sugarcane crops submerged for the last two days. Road communication to block headquarters from 50 villages in Koraput district and 20 in Nabarangpur is snapped due to damage of roads and culverts. Government officials are finding it difficult to reach the affected villages to assess flood damage. According to preliminary reports, 1,500 houses in Koraput and 700 in Nabarangpur have been either partially or completely damaged due to heavy rainfall. Raila Parja, an elderly woman of Panjiaguda in Jeypore block, died when her house collapsed on Thursday.
Koraput Collector MS Mishra is monitoring the relief and restoration works. The 80-km NH-26 stretch between Koraput and Kotpad has been damaged and at Bariniput, Deo Ghat, Umuri, Ambaguda and Borrigumma, several roads have been washed away.