MALKANGIRI: A man died allegedly by drowning in a nala in Khairput block in the district on Tuesday night owing to flooding due to heavy rains.
Informing this, additional district magistrate (Revenue) Maheswar Chandra Nayak said the man had been to his field when the water level might have increased. “Prima facie it seems the death was due to drowning. However, the exact reason of the death can be ascertained after the police report and postmortem,” Nayak added. The deceased has been identified as Ghenu Chalan of Muduliguda village under Khairput block.
On the other hand, communication on NH-326 was disrupted for hours on Wednesday disrupting vehicular movement between Malkangiri and Motu enroute Kalimela as rainwater flowed at 2-3 feet high over the low-lying bridges at MV-96 and Kangrukonda.
Communication between Kalimela and Podia was also affected as rainwater was flowing over a low-lying bridge near Kalimela Kanyashram for some hours. However, communication between Malkangiri and Motu en route to Kalimela and between Kalimela and Podia was restored in the afternoon with the decline of the water level.
However, traffic flow resumed on NH -326 and between Kalimela and Podia in the afternoon after the water level went down, informed Nayak. Meanwhile, Malkangiri district received an average rainfall of 59.69 mm on Wednesday. Malkangiri block has received the highest of 80.4 mm rainfall, followed by Kalimela 80 mm, Chitrakonda 55 mm, Korukonda 47 mm, Podia 44.4 mm and Khairput 30 mm, District Emergency Office sources informed.