BHUBANESWAR: Heavy rain on Wednesday brought to the fore chinks in the Capital City’s drainage system with several parts of the city remaining inundated for hours. Bhubaneswar received 60 mm rainfall in about an hour, which brought normal life across the city to a standstill.
Rain water inundated roads at many places bringing traffic to a halt and submerged several low lying areas.
Residents of Jaydev Vihar faced a torrid time after drain water overflowed on to the roads.
The wall constructed over Natural Drain 4 here blocked the free flow of rain water, compounding the woes of residents nearby. Vehicular traffic at Rasulgarh Square and Acharya Vihar was also hit due to the rain.
Residents of low lying areas of Acharya Vihar stayed in their homes as around three-foot-high rain water flowed on the roads.
Chintamaneswar residents experienced waist-deep water in the area. In Jharpada, Drain Number 10, which was recently desilted, could not hold the excess rain water.
This resulted in artificial flooding in areas near the drain. Similar situation was witnessed at Cuttack-Puri road near Bomikhal as people tried to wade through knee-deep water.
The Fire Department attended to distress calls for water-logging from residents of Tankapani road where the problem has become a common occurrence during monsoon. Motor pumps were used to drain out excess water from low lying areas.
A recent desilting drive by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities failed to serve the purpose as majority of the drains overflowed after the heavy downpour.
Every year, the BMC prepares a contingency plan for monsoon to deal with water-logging situation. This time, five water pumps and three excavators have been kept ready.
The civic authorities said this year they have not received any complaints related to water-logging during monsoon.
The city has 10 natural drains which are taken care of by the Housing and Urban Development Department and about 900 km-tributary drains, which are under the supervision of the BMC. Most of these are in a bad condition.