Odisha government rules out flood, but ready to evacuate

BHUBANESWAR: The State government on Sunday ruled out a flood-like situation in the coastal districts due to the impact of the cyclone, but said it is prepared to evacuate people from the low-lying areas, taking the prevailing situation into consideration.

Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) PK Jena said there is yet to be any definite information on how far the system will be from Odisha coast while moving almost parallel to it. But it is estimated that it will be at a distance of 90 to 100 kilometres from the coast while passing Puri due to which the wind speed will be around 30 km to 40 km per hour, he added.

After recurving around afternoon of May 10, the system will be moving between Ganjam and Puri districts. But after crossing Puri, it will become a deep depression and under its impact there will be medium to heavy rainfall in coastal districts. 

Jena said Gajapati, Ganjam and Puri districts are likely to receive heavy rainfall on May 10. Heavy rain is likely to happen in Ganjam, Puri, Khurda, Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur districts on May 11 and Kendrapada, Bhadrak and Balasore districts on May 12, he added.

The SRC said that in view of heavy rain, district Collectors have been asked to identify low-lying areas from where people will be evacuated. Stating that no target has been fixed for evacuation of people, Jena said Collectors have been empowered to take decision at the local-level. He said that all urban bodies of coastal districts have been alerted to keep their action plan ready to tackle possible waterlogging due to rain.

Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force teams have been kept ready in Ganjam, Puri, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada districts to help in evacuation of people, if necessary, Jena said.Jena said all fishing boats have returned from deep sea to the coast. He said that fishing boats in Chilika lake will also return by tomorrow.