Who says that the flood waters have tamed the spirit of Abhinav Sahu, his two friends and children elsewhere? When we walked down the narrow road leading to Khanditar village in Rasulpur block of Cuttack district in Orissa on July 24, many warned us to be careful: "The flood waters can sweep you off your feet" we were told. They had a point.

Even as a controversy rages over whether there were starvation deaths, what is clear is that the plight of the people of Kashipur in Orissa has worsened over the years. Prafulla Das reports.

Orissa was on the verge of another spell of devastating floods with more water being released from the Hirakud reservoir on the Mahanadi, and heavy rains lashing the catchment areas of the river on Thursday. "We are apprehending it to be the worst flood since Independence,'' the State Revenue Minister, Mr. Biswabhushan Harichandan, said. "The situation will remain critical for the next 36 hours."

After the supercyclone in 1999 and a severe drought in 2000, Orissa is now facing nature's wrath again in the form of heavy floods in five of its coastal districts and many interior pockets.

The flood situation is likely to worsen further as more than 14 lakh cusecs of water was being discharged at the Munduli gauge station on the Mahanadi, upstream of Cuttack, late this evening.