Incessant rains have not deterred the top bureaucrats of the district, including district Collector Pramoda Behera moving physically to the ground zero.
Be it the most interior villages like Derigam of Gudari block or Khamapadar of Padmapur block, which were inundated due to incessant rains recently, Behera walked through the gushing water and interacted with the communities and took instant decisions then and there. Not only was he drenched and quick to move to a few affected villages, but also despatched his team of officers namely Amrit Ritiraj, PD-DRDA, Rayagada, Dr Bondar Siddeshwar Baliram, Sub-Collector, Gunupur, Gorachand Gomango, PA, ITDA, Gunupur to most affected blocks like Gudari, Gunupur, Muniguda, Kashipur, K Singhpur, which were worst affected.
These committed officers alongwith the BDOs, Tehsildars and supporting staff monitored the situation at the grassroots and managed the disaster effectively.
Behera updated the State Relief Commissioner on an hourly basis and interacted with the media to pass on the message to the villagers not to get panicky. As a part of disaster management plan, one ODRAF unit, five fire units, three boats, 23 medical teams, 11 veterinary teams were deployed.
3,128 persons residing near Nagavali, Kalyani, Jhanjabati and Vansadhara rivers, which were in spate, were evacuated as a preventive measure to 21 relief centres where free kitchens got immediately operated after the evacuation.
According to the information from the district emergency office, the rain havoc affected 14,645 persons from 145 villages in 69 gram panchayats and 3 wards from three urban level bodies(ULB). Flattened rice, molasses and other dry food items were distributed in the affected villages.
Fortunately not a single village was marooned. There was a casualty of 67 livestock. Approximately 531 hectares of crop area including vegetables were affected. In many areas, the crops are either under water or heavily sand cast causing severe damage. 18 houses were severely damaged whereas 34 fully and 358 houses got partially damaged. Damage to infrastructure like breaches on embankments, roads cut-off is estimated to be Rs 296.15 lakh.
“Though the situation has become normal now, the field functionaries along with the senior officers are camping at the vulnerable points to monitor and tackle any eventualities. The assessment of damage is still in progress and the final damage assessment related to public and private properties will be done and sent to proper quarters at the earliest,” said Collector Behera.