Over 14 lakh people were affected due to floods in five river systems of Odisha, the State government said here on Sunday. Seventeen people lost their lives in a wall collapse and by slipping into swollen rivers.
“Heavy rain triggered by back-to-back low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal had caused flooding in 20 districts. The situation is fast improving in areas falling under Subarnrekha, Burhabalanga, Baitarani and Brahmani river systems,” said Pradeep Jena, Managing Director of the State Disaster Management Authority.
According to the office of Special Relief Commissioner, 2.65 lakh people were marooned by vast sheets of water in 340 villages and 57,824 people were being served cooked food after their evacuation from water-logged houses.
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Preliminary assessment of floods suggests 10,382 houses and 1.68 lakh hectare of crop land were affected.
Infrastructure damaged
The floods also caused massive damage to infrastructure. In 11 districts, 107 roads were cut off by the swirling water and 32 breaches on river embankments were detected in five districts.
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In order to rescue people and provide essential material, 254 boats were deployed in different districts. Fourteen units of the National Disaster Response Force and 17 teams of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force were carrying out relief operations.
Authorities ruled out massive floods in coastal districts as little over 10 lakh cusecs of water was flowing through Naraj barrage – the last major flood control structure before the Mahanadi waters hit the low-lying coastal areas. In the past, Naraj barrage had registered a flow of more than 15 lakh cusecs through its gates.
“The water inflow into Hirakud Reservoir from upper catchment is around 8 lakh cusecs while 7.5 lakh cusecs of water is being released through 46 gates of the dam. As per our estimate, peak water flow has passed through Naraj,” said Anu Garg, State Water Resource Secretary.
Keeping in mind the vulnerability of the low-lying areas in Jagatsinghpur, Puri and Kendrapara districts, experienced engineers and night patrolling teams have been deployed along major river embankment.