BHUBANESWAR: Even as the water level in most of the rivers has dropped below the danger mark, the plight of the flood-affected is far from over as more than 6.4 lakh people of 902 villages of the State still remain marooned. Official sources said the flood situation in the low-lying areas of coastal and northern districts will continue for the next two to three days till the flood waters recede completely.
Referring to the flood in the Subarnarekha river in Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts, engineer-in-chief (EIC) of the Water Resources department Bijay Kumar Mishra told media persons that the peak flood is over. But many villages still remained submerged, he said.
The EIC said that the water levels in Subarnarekha and Budhabalanga rivers, which caused floods in Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts have fallen below the danger mark. Subarnarekha is flowing at 47.2 metres and 9.51 metres at Jamsholaghat and Rajghat against the danger level of 49.15 metres and 10.36 metres respectively. However, the Janaka river is flowing at 6.32 metres at Mathani which is above the danger mark of 5.5 metres.
Similar is the situation of the Baitarani River which inundated several villages in the Jajpur and Keonjhar districts. The river is flowing below the danger level mark, both at Anandpur and Akhuapada. Prediction of fresh rains by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in the coastal and northern districts during the next 24 hours is likely to compound the woes of the people of the flood-affected areas. The IMD has issued an orange warning and predicted very heavy rainfall (7 cm to 20 cm) for Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak and Keonjhar districts during the next 24 hours.
Balasore district collector Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde, however, said that the fresh spell of rain will not cause many problems. He said over 15,000 people in 93 villages of the district have been housed in 46 temporary shelters. He urged the people to remain in shelters till floods recede as water from the West Bengal side is draining into the Subarnarekha river.
Meanwhile, the death toll in flood and related incidents has increased to 14 as four more children were reported to have been killed due to the wall collapse in the Mayurbhanj district. The EIC said that even though there has been no breach in the embankment of Subarnarekha, the embankments of Mahanadi and its tributaries have been breached in seven places.