KAIMUND: Barely 30 km from Bhubaneswar, the smooth black-topped road to Banki suddenly appears like a marine drive.For the whooshing and frothing Mahanadi has swallowed almost everything that one can set sights on.River flows on what once were vegetable fields.Even the road is under water where both boats and autorickshaws ply at the same time.Right in the middle of the Mahanadi’s course is a thick canopy of trees which Upendra Sahu, who ferries locals, said is a village.“The residents are lucky since the island is located on hard rock and even the strong current of the Mahanadi has, so far, not been able to sweep it away,” he said.The country boat, “hulia” in local lingo, which can carry about half a dozen people, takes about 15 minutes amidst violent swerving and shaking to reach Kaimund village where people have been marooned for the last two days.A six-foot high road that connected the village is gone now and there is no boat made available by the administration nor has any relief reached here yet.Dambaru Rout, in his early 40s, rues that they can not even contact anyone for relief.“No one dares travel once the evening falls since the current is very strong, while absence of electricity for the last three days has left all mobile phones dead,” he said.Villagers, about 500 in number, have been left to fend for themselves.Whatever provisions they have are fast depleting and they hope the flood water recedes fast so that they could access the local markets.Not much is available though.In fact, in anticipation of the floods, the crop was harvested and sold off in a hurry.Kaimund residents have no other option.“We can not relocate anywhere since there is no other village in the immediate neighbourhood.Just a hill on the other side of the road and it is full of bushy forests,” Musa Nayak said.Besides Kaimund, several villages in the radius of 5 km are left in the lurch too.Pathapur, Pushpangi, Amarkandarpur, Chakuleswar, Devidwar, Kalikaprasad and Charigheria are marooned.
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