BHUBANESWAR: With one lakh people marooned in about 100 villages, the flood situation in the Balasore district remained alarming as a swollen Subarnarekha river inundated four blocks on Monday.
The Balasore administration mounted a massive evacuation and shifted 40,000 people to 227 shelters. Collector Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde said as many as 156 villages in 83-gram panchayats have been affected by the flood. The administration is still carrying out the evacuation, he added.
The flood in low-lying areas of the district will continue for the next two to three days. Official sources said that Saraskana and Rasgovindpur blocks in the Mayurbhanj district have been hit by floods in the Subarnarekha river.
In the Jajpur district, Baitarani inundated a number of blocks, including Dasrathpur and Korei, while in Keonjhar, several places in Hatadihi, Ghasipura and Anandapur are underwater. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced seven days of relief for people in the marooned villages of Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar districts. Steps are being taken to provide assistance to all the affected people, he added.
Water Resources Minister Tukuni Sahu who reviewed the flood situation said that though Subarnarekha is still flowing above the danger mark, the water level has remained stable for the last eight hours. “We are keeping a close watch on it,” she added. Meanwhile, the death toll in flood increased to 10 on Monday as a 35-year-old lady was swept away in Badatalapada village in Bhograi block.
Official sources said the water level of Subarnarekha at Rajghat district stood at 11.9 m till 3 pm against the danger level of 10.36 m but started receding thereafter. Meanwhile, Special Relief Commissioner PK Jena has written to the Collectors of Khurda, Puri, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Nayagarh, Balasore, Bhadrak, Keonjhar and Boudh, asking them to distribute sanitary napkins free of cost to women marooned in the flood.
Odisha is reeling under the impact of a moderate flood in the Mahanadi river system, following incessant rainfall, which has affected over eight lakh people. Nearly five lakh are still marooned in 763 villages, according to government estimates.