ROURKELA: Intermittent heavy rainfall since Thursday night has once again triggered severe water-logging across Sundargarh district, disrupting road communication and damaging several stretches of roads. The district recorded an average of 38.7 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours till 8 am on Saturday.
The coal mining belts of Hemgir were the worst affected, with areas in and around the NTPC, MCL and OCPL mines remaining inundated for long hours on Friday. The storm water receded with lighter showers, but rose again following heavy spells on Saturday. Notably, Hemgir block recorded 78 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours.
In Jhuntijharan village of San Ghumura panchayat, storm water entered at least 30 households after flooding the Dulunga coal mines area of NTPC. Similar situations were reported from Bilemunda and Basundhara in Hemgir, where water entered houses.
A section of the OCPL-Sarbahal road was washed away on Friday, cutting off road communication, while storm water also damaged standing crops in nearby fields. Villagers blamed the problem on mining overburden dumps that have choked natural drainage channels.
Water-logging was also reported around NTPC’s township at Darlipali and neighbouring areas of Lefripada block. In Koida block, rising water in the Samij Nullah left at least four hamlets, Bakartola, Gadhatola, Nuatola and Jajtola, cut-off for two days.
Rourkela city too faced flooding on Friday. Storm water entered several houses in Sahadev Basti of the Gopabandhu cluster after the main drain along Railway Colony road got clogged.