MALKANGIRI : Heavy rain that lashed the district in the last 24 hours threw road communication to haywire with the administration declaring all schools closed for two days.Malkangiri town was cut off from the rest of the district as the roads were submerged under rain water at different places. With water flowing 4-5 ft on the roads, communication on Malkangiri-Kalimela-Motu and Malkangiri-Mathili-Govindpalli-Jeypore routes on NH-326 was snapped. Low lying bridges in MV-7, Potteru and Kangrukonda were submerged. Similarly, the link on Malkangiri-Kalimela-Podia route was cut off as the road in Undrukonda was submerged.
Water was flowing five ft above the low lying bridges in Korukonda and MV-37 leading to disruption of the communication between Malkangiri and Balimela. The rain water also entered the kutcha houses in many low lying areas across the district. The heavy rain was continuing till the report was filed. Meanwhile, Collector Manish Agarwal suspended the classes of all schools on Friday and Saturday in the wake of forecast of heavy rain by Met department in the district in next 48 hours.
He has directed the District Education Officer to ensure safety of the hostel boarders and adequate food stock for them. The Collector visited Potteru where water was flowing 3-4 feet on the road and interacted with the villagers.
Meanwhile, Bhubaneswar based Engineer-in-Chief (Planning & Design) Lambodar Pradhan visited Chitrakonda and Satiguda dams, Surlikonda barrage and other low lying bridges. Pradhan said the water level in Chitrakonda and Satiguda dams have increased due to rain. While the water level in Chitrakonda was 1463.6 ft against the full reservoir level of 1516 ft at 8 am on Friday, it was 188.63 metre in Satiguda dam against the highest level of 192.63 metre.
The district has received an average rainfall of 115. 86 mm during the last 24 hours with highest of 145 mm recorded in Kalimela block and lowest of 95 in Korukonda block, said District Emergency Officer Promod Kumar Behera.