Berhampur: Heavy rain over the past two days has inundated several parts of Berhampur, disrupting normal life, affecting traffic and forcing authorities to shift 21 people from vulnerable kutcha houses to safer locations.The silk city witnessed intense rainfall accompanied by thunder and lightning on Tuesday night under the influence of the Bay of Bengal depression. The downpour continued on Wednesday, leaving several low-lying localities waterlogged and causing rainwater to enter houses despite efforts by civic authorities to pump out accumulated water.Officials of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) said 21 residents of ward no. 21 were relocated as a precautionary measure due to risks posed to their mud houses. Areas such as Aska Road, Sriram Nagar, Gate bazaar, Gandhinagar, Dharmanagar, Harihar Nagar, Niladri Vihar, Brajanagar and Gajapati Nagar bore the brunt of the flooding.Many traders in commercial areas downed shutters as heavy rain hampered business activities. Collector (Ganjam) Keerthi Vasan V, BeMC commissioner A Sasya Reddy and mayor Sanghamitra Dalei visited inundated areas to assess the situation and oversee relief measures. Residents in low-lying areas were advised to remain alert as rainfall is expected to continue.To address the city’s chronic waterlogging problem, BeMC has prepared a master plan worth Rs 1,821 crore for improving stormwater drainage. The proposal includes construction of an 85 MLD treatment plant at Burukudi at an estimated cost of Rs 106 crore, expansion of the city’s drainage network, construction of over 160 km of new drains and land acquisition for additional drainage channels costing around Rs 242 crore. “We will submit the detailed project report to the govt for approval and funding so that the waterlogging problem can be addressed permanently,” Dalei said.The BeMC commissioner said eight quick response teams have been deployed and a control room set up at the corporation office to respond to complaints. Officials are taking necessary measures to tackle water accumulation and provide aid to affected people, she added.