Floods are always devastating. One such flood hit Odisha few weeks ago. This killed at least 22 people and affected more than two million. Heavy rains and the release of huge quantity of water from Hirakud reservoir was the cause of this flood in which about 4,000 villages in more than half of state’s 30 districts, mostly located on the downstream got wreaked in havoc & at least 24,429 houses have been damaged.
This disaster was much more man made than nature. This year 59 gates of the Hirakud dam were opened, 39 out of which were opened within a span of 48 hours, to release excess water it received from upper catchment areas. This sudden release of so much water brought these miseries into the life of people. This flood could have been avoided if the authorities have been cautious in releasing water from the Hirakud dam, experts say. But authorities say that the flood was caused by the heavy rain at the upper catchments area of the dam and release of water from Chhattisgarh.
It may be nature or man, but the sufferers of the consequences were common men who lost everything, homes, animals, crop and what not. Their life got filled with sorrows. This type of thing must be avoided in future, if it’s under capability of man.
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By
G Pritiranjan Das
pritipunnya.pp-at-gmail.com