Flood-hit districts to submit report in seven days, says Pujari
BHUBANESWAR/BALASORE: The state government has asked authorities of flood-affected districts to submit damage assessment report within seven days, said Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari on Friday.
Pujari further informed that the situation has started improving in the affected areas and no loss of life has been reported. “However, damage to crops and houses has been reported from multiple districts,” he said. While Malkangiri and Koraput were affected in the first phase of floods, Balasore and Mayurbhanj were the worst-hit in the second phase. Parts of Sundargarh and Bhadrak were also affected following the recent heavy rainfall activities.
“The full moon phase worsened the flood situation in Balasore as water flow of the rivers to Bay of Bengal slowed down because of the phenomenon,” the minister said. Meanwhile, SRC officials said no major rainfall activity was recorded in Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts in the last two days. “Around 21,000 people from five affected blocks of the districts have been evacuated to 51 relief shelters while total 21 response forces including six ODRAF teams and one NDRF unit, have been deployed. Around 130 houses have been damaged,” they said.
In Balasore, residents of low-lying areas in Bhograi, Jaleswar and Baliapal blocks urged the district administration to take steps for draining of floodwater from affected localities.
They accused the previous BJD government of failing to remove silt from canals and drains that connect to Subarnarekha river. Four days of heavy rains inundated 230 villages under 50 panchayats of the blocks.
Even as the water level of Subarnarekha is decreasing, the affected areas are still waterlogged. The water level of the river was 9.36 metre against the danger level at 10.36 metre as on 6 pm on the day.
Deputy collector and district emergency officer Sai Krushna Jena said the district administration had directed RWSS officials to visit the flood affected villages.
He said free kitchen have been set up and dry food is being provided to the flood affected people.