Still struggling from the lashing received at the hands of cyclone Phalin on the evening of October 12, several villagers of Ganjam district are having to deal with a second blow in less than a fortnight as fresh flooding due to heavy rain and a spate in major rivers of the region have left thousands stranded.

Worse, unlike in the aftermath of the cyclone, the stranded locals said they are receiving no help from the administration this time around. Take Jalamaripalli village in Phasiguda gram panchayat, under Digapahandi assembly constituency of Ganjam district, for instance. Post-Phailin, locals in the marooned village said their only saviours are locals from the neighbouring village Bhismagiri.

Four days after the recent flooding on October 23, Subhendu Padhy, a local social worker, said on October 27, “Neither relief nor the administration has reached here till now.”

He also said any team from Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) was to reach the badly affected areas.

Blaming the administration for leaving them to their fate, Bhaktabandhu Rout, another villager, said: “We were left to fend for ourselves – both in terms of gathering food and reaching safer places. With a lot of difficulty we brought the women, children and elderly to nearby Bhismagiri village on our own. Locals there (at Bhismagiri) helped us evacuate the day Ghodahada river was flowing dangerously (October 23).”

Ghodahada river changed its course dangerously, literally at the village’s doorstep, resulting in water from the river entering Jalamaripalli and flooding the village. The area comes under the assembly constituency of Digapahandi, represented by revenue and disaster management minister Surya Narayan Patra, who had told Governance Now in the aftermath of Phalin that the state government had everything under control.

Besides Ghodahada, flooding in three other rivers – Rushikulya, Badanadi and Loharkhandi – has added to owes of the Phailin-ravaged Ganjam district.

Former deputy speaker of Odisha assembly Ram Chandra Panda, who was also stranded in the locality, questioned the state government’s claims. “When the administration is claiming that it successfully evacuated lakhs of people during Phailin cyclone, why could they not shift a few thousand people when this village was flooded?” he remarked.

Elaborating on the administration’s apathy, Bhaktabandhu Rout alleged, “When we informed the block development officer over phone about our condition, he merely asked us to get to the block office and take relief. But how can we reach the block office when we are marooned in flood water, and when even administration officials are failing to reach the affected villages?”

Jalamaripalli village is located on the bank of river Ghodahada and was severely affected in the 1990 flood as well. With the river veering off its main course again, it is estimated that more than 100 acres of farm and agricultural land have gone under water.

“The river and its changed course have been flowing for about 2 km long along the village,” said Padhy, adding that more than 25 villages have been affected by the resultant flooding.

Of the 10 blocks of Ganjam district, Digapahandi and Sanakhemundi blocks are the worst affected by the flood in Ghodahada river. Other blocks like Hinjili, Aska, Polasara, Ganjam, Chatrapur, Purushottampur, Chikiti and Patrapur were also badly affected.

Besides Jalamaripalli village, entire areas got flooded and a big part of the road near Moulabhanja bridge was washed away on the first day of flooding when authorities released water from the dam. As a result, the area remained inaccessible through Digapahandi.

At some other places, like Palaspur, water was flowing over the bridge, isolating the area from other parts of the district.

According to reports collated on Sunday, the latest round of floods has affected crops on more than 3.4 lakh hectares in the district.