RAYAGADA: One person died and two others of a family were injured when their house collapsed at Panashaguda village under Kashipur block following heavy rains on Monday morning. The deceased is 50-year-old Sambaru Majhi and the injured are his wife Bunduri and son Niranjan. The three were sleeping when the house collapsed on them.
Locals rescued the three from the debris and rushed them to Kashipur community health centre (CHC). While doctors declared Sambaru brought dead, his wife and son are undergoing treatment in the CHC. Tehsildar Soubhagya Behera and police reached the spot for inquiry and the administration released an amount of Rs 3,000 from Red Cross funds.
A similar incident took place in Dambaduara under Kalyansinghpur block when Mangitia Benia of the village was injured as the wall of his hut collapsed following rains. Meanwhile, the four days of heavy rain has compensated deficit rainfall in the district and farmers have started farming activities with a hope that the dry paddy saplings will now survive.
Due to erratic rainfall in the last two months, saplings had dried up and farmers were fearing drought. The expected rainfall in June should have been 195.3 mm but Rayagada received only 72.6 mm, 63 per cent less. Similarly, normal rainfall in July is 259.5 mm but till the third week, it was only 160 mm. Deputy Director of Agriculture KC Singh said with this rainfall, farmers will speed up their agriculture activities which was delayed in the last two months.