The State Government on Monday alerted Collectors of 12 districts to deal with possible floods as water level of all the major rivers showed a rising trend and three rivers, Mahanadi, Baitarani and Bansadhara were flowing above danger level following incessant rains of the last three days.
The low pressure induced continued rainfall during the last 72 hours had seriously hit the normal life in the half of the State, inundating huge areas, damaging houses and large expanse of crop fields.
Sambalpur town was the worst-affected with rain water gushing to the residential areas in low lying areas. Sambalpur created a record, receiving around 336.80 mm rainfall during the period followed by 154 mm at Hirakud. Besides, rain water also created havoc in the low lying areas in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack due to drainage problem.
Meanwhile, death toll due to the rains and floods had taken the lives of three persons one each in Boudh, Sambalpur and Kandhamal, taking the total toll to 18 during the current rainy season.
Expressing concern over the situation, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reviewed the situation in different parts of the State and asked the district Collectors of Mayurbhanj, Baleswar, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Khordha, Cuttack, Boudh, Nayagarha and Keonjhar to take adequate steps to deal with flood fury.
The Chief Minister directed the officials to evacuate the people residing in low lying areas to safer places and provide them with cooked food by opening free kitchen. Departments concerned were also directed to stock adequate quantity of fodder and initiate steps to provide safe drinking water and healthcare to the affected people, said Special Relief Commissioner PK Mohapatra after the review meeting.
The Chief Minister also asked the Water Resources Department authorities to keep a round-the-clock vigil at the vulnerable points along the canal and river embankments. Mobile team would be deployed for the purpose, Mohapatra informed, adding that the Chief Minister also stressed the need to provide emergency relief to the affected persons wherever possible.
The SRC said that NDRF, ODRAF and Fire Service units were mobilised to the Koenjhar, Jajpur, Bhadrakh , Baleswar, Mayurbhanj, Cuttack and Puri.
The district Collectors were advised to check and see that all preparedness, including pre-positioning of food stuff in inaccessible and strategic place, he said.
Meanwhile, since there was heavy rains in upper areas of Hirakud, the Hirakud Dam authorities have already opened 17 gates .
According to Water Resources department, flood water to the tune of 9, 18,388 cusec was flowing at Mundali. It was likely to increase to ten lakh cusecs by Monday night.
According to report, in Sambalpur one person died of drowning. Due to the heavy rain and water logging as many as four blocks, Jujumara, Dhankuda , Rengali and Maneswar were affected. Due water logging in Sambalpur town, at least 5,000 persons were evacuated and were given cooked food by keeping them in safer places.
As many as 23 relief camps were opened in the town and medical teams were also pressed into service. High powered pump sets were put to use to evacuate heavy waterlogging points at Modipada and Ranibandh areas, it said.
Besides, JCB and other machineries were put to use to clear road, drainage and blockade, it said, adding at least three houses were damaged in Kuchinda gram panchayat of Dhankuda block.
In Subarnapur, large areas in four blocks such as Birmaharajapur, Tarabha, Ullunda and Dunguripali were affected and road was cut off at Bauijore and Jetesinga bridge on the way from Birmahrajpur to Rairkhole as there was six feet of flood water above the bridge.
Sources said that while nine villages in two blocks of Boudh district, Boudh and Harabhanga, were affected due to heavy rains. One person died due to wall collapse. The National Highway was closed due to falling of trees. As many as 345 persons from the two villages were shifted to relief camps.
In Kalahandi, the flood water of river Hati overtopped the bridge at Junagarah as a result of which traffic movement on NH-26 was closed. A person died in Kandhamal district.
While low-lying areas including Bhadrak municipality were submerged due to rain and flood water of Baitarani, due to continuous rainfall, the water level of river Brutang and Mahanadi increased and inundated large crop areas.
Meanwhile, the local Met department here predicted heavy rains during the next 24 hours and said the well marked low pressure area formed over the north Bay of Bengal on Sunday had moved over to land and concentrated into a depression and lay centered over the Gangetic West Bengal.
The Met office predicted that the depression would move west northwestwards during next 24 hours and advised the fishermen not to venture into the sea as it would be rough during the period. Since strong and gusty surface wind speed reaching 45 -55 kmph gusting to 60 kmph from north -westerly direction may prevail along and off Odisha coast during the next 24 hours, the weatherman also advised the Government to hoist the storm warning signal.