Basanti Sethi, 65, sits amid the ruins of her mudhouse-cum-paan shop and rummages through a smelly earthen pot. It used to contain everything she owned — till the night of September 22, when her house caved in under a rushing flood of water that also marooned her village of Maudpur in Raipur grampanchayat of Bhadrak district, Orissa.

She turns the earthen pot over, hoping that the cash she and her 90-year-old husband Rushi Sethi had managed to save, around Rs 5,000, would somehow tumble out. All that it contains are some plastic packs and a pair of papayas.

Farmer Prasanta Bhoi was getting ready for dinner when he heard a loud sound. It was that of water moving, and growing louder. “It became a roar, like that of a massive wave. Before I could react, I was swept off my feet by water that rose up to my chest,” says Bhoi.

Bhubaneswar: A fresh spell of floods in river Baitarani inundated 12 gram panchayats in Bhadrak and Keonjhar districts, as waters receded in the Mahanadi delta, with the death toll on Friday climbing to 32 besides 12 others missing, official sources said.

With situation improving in the Mahanadi delta and most villages are again accessible by road or waterways, the state government suspended air-dropping of food after five days.

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Monday stepped up air-dropping of food packets as flood situation continued to be grim with Mahanadi river flowing above the danger mark in delta region, affecting 14 lakh people and snapping road links with about 1,000 villages.

Flood in Mahanadi, Subarnarekha, Budhabalanga and Baitarani rivers affected 14 lakh people in 19 of the 30 districts of the state where 17 people were killed and 11 others are missing, officials said.

BHUBANESWAR/BALASORE: Several rivers in northern Orissa were in spate on Saturday following incessant rains as two persons were swept away by Baitarani river in Keonjhar district.

A man and his son went missing while crossing Baitarani near Satahalia village.

BHUBANESWAR: Several rivers have started swelling after incessant rains across the State during the past 48 hours, triggered by a low pressure. Following heavy rains in upper catchments, Bansadhara was flowing above the danger mark at Kashinagar. Brahmani and Baitarani were also showing a rising trend.

BALASORE: Panic spread in the localities of Sundarpur and Sahusahi villages in Bhadrak district following landslides at four places in two days. While most of the villagers are living in fear, some have abandoned their villages.

BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has plans to set up 17 more reservoirs as a flood control measure. At present there 8 large and 37 medium reservoirs in the State on different river systems. Besides, work on 18 more projects are on. The projects on river Mahanadi which are on progress are Lower Indra, Manjore, Ret, Titlagarh and Lower Suktel.

The reality of Orissa's iron ore mines, where the promise of prosperity is just empty rhetoric.

Hundreds of hectares of forests have been lost to mining over the years in a situation where encroachments are impossible to monitor. The most common illegality is to continue mining long after the lease has ended.