BHUBANESWAR: If the state capital suffered from hours of waterlogging, the situation of Cuttack was no better on Monday. Incessant rains and clogged drains inundated almost all the arterial lanes and roads of the city even as water entered some wards of SCB Medical College and Hospital and Acharya Harihar PG Institute of Cancer.
The sudden downpour and waterlogging caught the city’s residents and the Cuttack Municipal Corporation off guard. Despite installing water-draining machines at many places, the civic body was found severely wanting in responding to the urban flooding on time.
In low-lying areas like Kesharpur, Gahmandia, Seminar Chhack, Alisha Bazaar, Professorpada, Jhola Sahi, Rajabagicha, Rausapatana and Patapola, water gushed into houses hitting normal life and exposing the lack of preparedness on the part of the CMC.
Commuters on the Keshapur-Gahmandia stretch, where box drain work is underway, had to wade through knee-deep water. “Water receded partially towards 8 pm, but there was mud and slush everywhere making it difficult to even walk,” said Sk Khalid, a resident of Kesharpur. The situation was no better in Kaji Bazaar, Ganja Mandira, Tulasipur, Meria Bazaar and Kathagoda Sahi.
Similarly, the entire stretch of Rajabagicha was under rainwater which also entered the thatched houses in the area. Traffic movement, too, came to a standstill as rainwater flooded major roads like Badambadi, Khan Nagar-Khapuria, and Madhupatana. Neither CMC Commissioner Nikhil Pavan Kalyan nor Mayor Subhash Singh could be reached.