BHUBANESWAR: The flood situation in Mahanadi river system is grim and the next 36 hours will be critical as over 12 lakh cusecs water will flow at Mundali barrage near Cuttack, the State government said on Tuesday.
Around two lakh people in 1,366 villages under 49 blocks and nine urban local bodies (ULBs) in 10 districts along Mahanadi basin have been affected by the flood. As flood water entered many areas, about 20,000 people in 237 villages have been marooned. Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur and Puri districts have been worst affected in the flood.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reviewed the situation with senior officials and collectors of 10 districts and emphasised on ‘zero casualty’ policy to ensure not a single life be lost due to the flood.
He asked officials to ensure this by undertaking prompt evacuation of people from vulnerable areas to safer places. He directed immediate extension of necessary relief and other basic essentials to people evacuated from low-lying areas of coastal districts.
He said prompt steps should be taken for repair and restoration work to prevent disruption in communication. The Energy department should also take advance measures to ensure immediate restoration of power supply in the event of any disruption.
Hospitals and water supply and power supply agencies should provide uninterrupted services, while the Health department should make special arrangements for providing medical aid in affected areas, he directed.
Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) PK Jena told mediapersons in a late night briefing that the flow of Mahanadi river is at its peak at Mundali in Cuttack and will continue till early on Wednesday.
He said that two breaches on the embankments of the Mahanadi river system have been reported. The breaches have occured in Makara and Rajua rivers in Puri district. A 100 feet breach has occurred in Rajua right embankment. Officials of the Water Resources department are busy in closing the breaches on the embankments, he said.
Flood situation grim, over 27K evacuated
The SRC said that the district administrations have evacuated around 27,000 people from low-lying areas to safer places in view of the flood. About 90 free kitchens have been opened for them, he said and added that flood waters have so far damaged over 700 houses.
Stating that efforts are on to maintain maximum water level within 12 lakh cusecs in order to keep it within a medium flood range, the SRC said that water is being released through 40 gates of the Hirakud reservoir. The inflow to the dam is now 6.3 lakh cusecs while the outflow is 6.74 lakh cusecs.
Jena, however, said that the water of Tel river, which flows into the Mahanadi will decrease and be within 3.5 lakh cusecs against the earlier estimation of 5.5 lakh cusecs as there has been no rainfall in the Indravati river basin in the last 24 hours.
The SRC said that the flood backwater has entered villages, agricultural fields and is flowing over different bridges in the districts of Sambalpur, Subarnapur, Boudh, Cuttack, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and Puri districts. Nine teams each of National Disaster Response Force and Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force have been deployed in vulnerable places, while 44 teams of the fire service have been engaged in relief and rescue operations.
Fresh low-pressure to bring more rains
BHUBANESWAR: Likely formation of a fresh low-pressure system around Friday bringing in more rains could compound the problems further. According to IMD, the low-pressure area will trigger heavy rainfall at a few places in Odisha and Chhattisgarh