Kendrapada: Over 200 students and teachers remained stranded for the third day inside Kulasahi Ashram School, a government-run residential facility for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe children in Odisha’s Kendrapada district, after floodwaters from the swollen Brahmani River completely inundated the campus in Pattamundai block.
The 231 students, including 91 girls and 10 teachers, have been shifted to the upper floors of two-storey residential facility managed by the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Welfare Department, as water levels rose rapidly from Saturday and submerging the ground floor to depths of eight to ten feet while surrounding the premises and cutting off road access.
Kendrapada Collector Raghuram R Iyer and other officials maintained that the students were safe and in good health, with adequate food stocks initially available for about a week and arrangements underway to supply water bottles and additional relief materials. A medical team also visited the school to conduct health check-ups of the stranded children.
However, reports from the ground reveal severe distress. Stranded children broke into tears, while recounting their three-day ordeal, sharing that the rising water levels have cut off access to basic necessities, severely restricting drinking water availability, disrupting food preparation, and rendering toilet facilities unusable. They also voiced intense fear over venomous snakes and other reptiles entering the flooded complex.
The decision to forgo immediate evacuation has also sparked outrage among anxious parents, who are demanding that authorities rescue their children immediately.
Addressing concerns over the delay in campus-wide evacuation, Iyer clarified that “it is currently not possible to transfer the students,” directly attributing the decision to the “strong currents” of the floodwaters surrounding the area, which present severe hazards for motorised boats attempting transport.
Pattamundai BDO Sheetal Agarwal and Block Education Officer Ajit Barik indicated they are closely monitoring the situation and fire service personnel equipped with motorised boats remain on standby to initiate full evacuations to relief centres at Aul should water levels rise further.
Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj further confirmed that state emergency protocols have been activated across Kendrapada, Bhadrak, and Jajpur to provide dry rations and community kitchens as rivers continue to overflow.
