BERHAMPUR: As river Rushikulya overflowed its banks and flood waters gushed into Aska town in the aftermath of cyclone Titli, people ran for safety, carrying whatever valuables they could. But nobody paid much thought to the town's ATMs, which were left alone to deal with the flood. Perhaps, they thought the sturdy steel boxes would be able to handle nature's fury. But they were wrong.The 12-15 feet water managed to seep into the ATMs, causing a huge headache for bank authorities. These days, with the water having receded, bank officials are busy placing huge deposits of soaked currencies of different denominations on rooftops as they try to dry them and make them ready for use."We have at least four ATMs and two deposit machines. At the time of the floods, more than Rs 60 lakh was there in the machines. The currencies got soaked when the flood water entered the ATMs. We will know the exact loss amount after the currencies are all dried up," State Bank of India 's ATM channel manger, Debadutta Satapathy, said. Besides the ATMs, some branch offices were also reportedly affected. However, Satapathy was not too worried as the Reserve Bank of India would exchange all the soaked and damaged currencies. Andhra Bank ATMs too suffered on acount of the flood and bank staff were seen trying their best to dry them out in the sun. "We are yet to count the exact amount of soaked notes," said Bhubaneswar Nayak, the divisional general manager of Andhra Bank in Aska. The Andhra Bank has one branch and two ATMs in the town and sources said quite a few lakh notes could be affected. As the lone bank branch in the town was not functioning and the ATMs stayed defunct, Nayak said they have introduced a mobile ATM in the town with a daily withdrawal limit of Rs 4000.District lead bank officer P K Choudhuray said barring three branches of different banks, all others stayed defunct as the flood waters had damaged the computers and other infrastructure. "The respective bank officials are trying to get the branches operational," Choudhuray said.With only a few mobile ATMs functioning, long queue of customers were seen in front of the counters. "We are facing a lot of trouble withdrawing money during this festive season" said Sanjay Mishra, a resident of Aska.

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