The death toll due to the recent floods triggered by low depression-induced heavy rainfall has touched 17 in the State with the worst-affected being Ganjam district with six deaths.
“All the deaths were due to drowning and wall collapse,” Special Relief Commissioner PK Mohapatra said on Saturday after a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to take stock of the flood situation.
He said while four deaths were reported from Jagatsinghpur, two each from Bhadrakh, Jajpur and Nayagarah and one casualty was reported from Mayrubhanj district.
Stating that major rivers including Vandsdhara, Rishikulya and Ghodahada were flowing below the danger level on Saturday, Mohapatra said that as many as 12,000 people were taking shelter in the relief camps in Ganjam.
However, with situation limping back to normalcy people have started returning to their homes.
With the rains slowing down, rescue and relief operations are being geared up with two of the three Air Force helicopters being deployed in Ganjam, and the NDRF and ODREAF teams being engaged in rescue and relief works in inaccessible pockets of the district by boats.
Of the 129 villages inundated in Ganjam by flash floods, water has receded in 69 villages. Mohapatra said that till Saturday an estimated 16.50 lakh population in 4,611 villages under 589 Gram Panchayats spread over 10 districts - Ganjam, Puri, Gajapati, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Bhadrak, Myarubhanj, Jajpur, Khurda and Nayagarah - were affected by the recent floods.
As many 2.9 lakh people have been evacuated and provided with cooked food and dry ration, and emergent food assistance for three days has been provided to the affected people, he said.
Regarding the reports of damage caused due to the rains-triggered flood, the SRC said that a number of breaches have occurred near Manikaput, Achutrajpur and Srinibasapur of Banpur area due to Salia dam water spillover. Similarly, 96 distribution transfermers of CESU have been damaged in Khurda district alone, he added.