Two persons lost their lives and one went missing as heavy rain pounded five districts in Odisha for the third straight day today, official sources said. Bo respite is likely soon as the Met office has forecast more rains in the next 48 hours. The districts that have been severely hit by the rain include Malkangiri, Koraput and Nabarangpur in southern region and Bolangir and Kalahandi districts in the western parts of the state. While the state government has put the district collectors on alert in view of the rains, the East Coast Railway has asked its employees to remain vigilant to possible flooding of tracks in different places.

"So far, two deaths have been reported and another person was missing due to rain related incidents," Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) B P Sethi said adding that 17 persons confined due to flood water have been rescued from the tappoo (island) of river Tel at Banjipali in Titilagarh area in Bolangir district by the Fire Services unit. Manguli Muduli of Rajubidei village of Rajput gram panchayat of Koraput district died in rain related incident while Sadashib Sahu of Bargaon village died in Kalahandi district. Another person was missing in Koraput district, the sources said. A report from Koraput said at least 13 blocks have been affected due to the flash floods.