Outlook English - Print Subscribers Copy Outlook English, 06 August 2018 | Page 18
UNAWARES Several parts of
Bhubaneswar were flooded after
just a night of rain
After the Deluge,
It’s Back to Basics
SANJIB
U R BAN MES S
The Odisha capital’s ‘Smart City No. 1’ tag gets a rainwash
by Sandeep Sahu in Bhubaneswar
A
car was swept away by gushing
rainwater. Odisha Disaster
Rapid Action Force personnel
and firefighters rescued mar
ooned people. The adminis
tration provided food to those
unable to come out of their houses.
People waded through waist-deep
water. Pumps were used to drain out
water from residential areas. This
was the first time in years that Odi
sha capital Bhubaneswar witnessed
such scenes. Half the city went under
water after it rained through the
night of July 20. More rains followed
the next day, washing away all the
grandstanding by the Odisha govern
ment and the Bhubaneswar Munici
pal Corporation (BMC) about being
the ‘No. 1 Smart City’ in India.
Bhubaneswar received the highest
rainfall of 180.6 mm on a single day after
the Phailin cyclone in 2013 when the
city had recorded 184 mm on October 13.
Jatani block of Khordha district (of
which Bhubaneswar is a part) and
Barang block of neighbouring Cuttack
18 OUTLOOK 6 August 2018
district received 255 mm and 205 mm,
respectively, surpassing both Phailin
(215 mm and 120 mm) and the 1999
Super Cyclone (213 mm and 60 mm).
“The rainfall was heavy this time, but
not so heavy as to cause the catastrophe
it did,” says Ranjit Patnaik, a resident of
Shahid Nagar, a residential colony in
Bhubaneswar. Once upon a time the city
was known for its natural drainage sys-
tem. “No matter how long and hard it
rained, it took just a few minutes after
the rain stopped for the water to clear
out. Now, it takes three days after just an
hour of heavy