High tides wash away four houses

BERHAMPUR: High tides swept away four houses of Podempeta village in Ganjam block on Wednesday night. The village with around 146 families has been experiencing nature’s fury for the last two years.No casualties have been reported with the district administration shifting the families to safer places. This year, around 15 houses have so far been damaged in high tides.  The village was about half a kilometre  from the sea but in the last two years, the sea has been encroaching on the land and touching the habitation, said Sarpanch Dilip Chotroy.While the reason for the unusual rise of sea water is yet to be ascertained, the  closure of Rushikulya mouth seemed to have triggered the problem, said Ganjam Block Chairman Surath Pahan.The mouth shifted to  Kantiagada near Podempeta and as a result the residents here are facing high tides, he added. Recently a decision was taken to rehabilitate the families and accordingly  a plot in Jhatipadar-Podagada mouza was identified. However, with levelling of the identified land remaining incomplete, the families could not be shifted.Following the incident, administrative officials visited Podempeta village on Thursday.  They assured the villagers to take up levelling work  on a war-footing and have them shifted there at the  earliest.