Mahanadi fury expected today
An estimated 10 lakh people in 1,553 villages and 12 Urban local Bodies (UlBs) spread over 23 districts were affected due to the fresh spell of rains and floods that claimed at least 12 human lives.
However, the worst floods in the Mahanadi system were to reach the deltaic zone in the coastal districts of Cuttack, Kendrapada, Puri and Jagatsinghpur by Thursday, which may create havoc as the discharge of flood water into the Bay of Bengal would be tardy due to the tidal wave ahead of the full moon day on August 10.
But the Baitarani, Brahmani and their tributaries already wrecked havoc in Jajpur, Bhadrakh and Keonjhar districts . Though the Baitarani, Brahmani and Budhabalanga were in the receding trend, the flood waters spread to more areas on Wednesday through new breaches.
However, there were allegations that a large number of affected people were yet to get any relief and even the local administration was yet to reach out to some of the marooned areas. Over 2.50 lakh people in 398 villages were marooned due to the current floods, said Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradip Kumar Mohapatra.
Stating that as many as 1.40 lakh persons were evacuated to safer places by the NDRF, ODRAF and Fire Brigade personnel, the SRC said a total of 429 relief centers and free kitchens were opened to feed the affected persons. 184 boats were pressed into service for rescue and relief materials such as 1,154 quintals of flattened rice and 115 quintals of molasses were distributed among the distressed people.
As many as 11 NDRF teams and 30 ODRAF teams were deployed in different districts to assist the local administration in rescue and relief operations. The districts affected by the current floods include Balangir, Bhadrakh, Boudh, Cuttack, Deograh, Dhenkanal, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Kendrapada, Keonjhar, Koraput, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarah , Puri, Sambalpur, Sundergarah , Angul, Baleswar, Bragarah, Nuapada and Subarnapur, he said.
As the situation is likely to aggravate for the nest four days, the SRC said that the Ministry of Defence had been moved to keep two MI-17 helicopters on standby mode for deployment for the aid-dropping and rescue operations as and when required.
Mohapatra said that Mahanadi at Naraj was flowing at 26.74 metre against the danger level of 26.41 metre.
The peak flood in Mahanadi is likely to pass the delta head Mundali around midnight and it would take another 12 to 24 hours to reach other areas in the downstream of coastal areas. This may cause high floods in the deltaic region and would be of less intensity in comparison to 2011 floods when 14 lakh cusecs of flood water were discharged to the downstream at Naraj, he said.
This time the discharge of flood water at Naraj would be estimated at 12 lakh cusecs, he maintained.
The SRC informed that Baitarani was receding at Anandpur but the river at Akhuapada was flowing above the danger mark. Baring the Mahanadi and Baitarani, all other major rivers in the State were flowing below danger level, he informed.
Mohapatra said that no breach so far occurred in major embankments. However, the water in Baitarani overtopped at two points which had breached during the last phase of the flood in Jajpur and Bhadrak districts.
In view of the possible high floods in coastal areas on Thursday, the district Collectors of Cuttack, Puri, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada were asked to keep vigil on the situation and ensure evacuation of all the persons residing in low lying areas to safer places and take all necessary precautions to cope with the situation.
He said that in order to avoid any outbreak of diseases, as many as 28 medical teams were already deployed in the flood affected areas. Besides, 20 veterinary teams were pressed into service, he said.
Mohapatra said that since heavy downpour had been reported in the upper catchment of the Hirakud reservoir system in Chhatisgarh, the dam authorities in order to regulate the water level had already opened 50 gates discharging 8,34,245 cusecs to the downstream of the system. The reservoir level stood at 628.21 feet by Wednesday evening while the inflow was recorded at 8,03,255 cusecs, he said, adding that since the rainfall in the downstream of Mahanadi had reduced during the last 24 hours, there should not be any panic.
Meanwhile, the local Met office said that the depression lay over Madhya Pradesh and its neighbourhood area. However, there would be rain or thunder shower in a few places of Odisha during next 24 hours, while the rainfall may increase from August 9, it said.