Odisha Flood Situation Improves, Nearly 2 Lakh People Still Affected in 303 Villages
The flood situation in Odisha showed signs of improvement on Friday as water levels in all major rivers began receding, although nearly 2 lakh people across 303 villages in Balasore and Jajpur districts remained affected, officials said.
According to the Revenue Department, 1,90,974 people in 241 villages of Balasore district and another 7,745 people across 62 villages in Jajpur continued to be impacted by the floods.
Relief and rescue operations were also underway in Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Kendrapara and Bhadrak districts.
Several roads connecting villages in the Bhograi, Baliapal and Jaleswar blocks of Balasore remained submerged, leaving some areas cut off. Relief supplies were being transported to affected communities using boats, officials said.
A total of 28 teams from the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Fire Services were deployed across the affected areas for rescue and relief operations.
As many as 111 relief camps were functioning in Balasore and another 22 in Jajpur. The Special Relief Commissioner's office said 16,582 people had been evacuated from flood-hit areas of Balasore and shifted to relief camps.
“There is no flood in any of the major rivers across the state,” Water Resources Department engineer-in-chief Dilip Kumar Rout said.
The Subarnarekha river, which caused extensive flooding in Balasore and affected around 2 lakh people, was flowing below its danger level of 10.36 metres at Rajghat and continued to recede, according to the Water Resources Department.
Rout said floodwaters in waterlogged areas were expected to recede within the next one or two days, provided there was no fresh rainfall.
Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its Friday evening bulletin that no rainfall warning had been issued for any part of Odisha until September 8. However, light to moderate rain or thunderstorms could occur at isolated locations.
With the flood situation gradually easing, the state government has directed administrations in affected districts to speed up relief and rescue operations and begin restoration work as soon as floodwaters withdraw from villages.
Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said the revenue and agriculture departments had been asked to jointly assess damage in the affected villages as water levels recede.
with inputs from PTI
