Marooned Odisha villagers forced to drink floodwater

A flooded and marooned area of Jamkunda in Balasore. Pic/PTI

Unable to get potable water in marooned villages of Odisha, a number of people are forced to drink what is available - the muddy and contaminated water that has accumulated in villages in the past few days due to flood. Many mud houses have collapsed or damaged, food has become scarce and there is no place to attend to nature's call.

"We are managing with dry food like flattened rice, but unable to get a drop of water to drink. Tube wells and other sources of drinking water are submerged in the flood. We are forced to drink floodwater," said Makara Dalei of Nayabali village under Baliapal block of Balasore district. He said villagers are not even able to boil the floodwater due to lack of fuel.

"Those who had cooking gas connection are also affected, as cylinders have been swept away along with other household articles after floodwater entered homes," he said. Elderly people of Uluda village under Bishnupur gram panchayat, who could not be evacuated, are virtually starving, said Minati Sethy, a septuagenarian. Sethy said she has been surviving on watered rice cooked three days ago, before the flooded Subarnarekha river inundated their village. The Water Resources Department said it may take time for the water to recede from villages in low-lying areas.

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