This development comes in even as Odisha government braces up for a fresh spell of heavy rain from today as forecast by the meteorological department, while over 4.67 lakh people in 12 districts have already been affected by the flood in the Mahanadi river system, news agency PTI report said.
Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) P K Jena said that Wednesday night was considered crucial for the Mahanadi delta region as the peak flood water was expected to pass through Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Puri and Khurda districts, noting that “about 10 lakh cusec (cubic feet per second) of water would flow through the delta region which may inundate more villages."
Over two lakh people in 10 districts were affected by the calamity on Tuesday when Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik asked officers concerned to ensure "zero casualty" in the flood caused by heavy rainfall due to the week-long low pressure and depression, while Jena said that a population of over 2.26 lakh remained marooned in 425 villages while about 54,000 people have been evacuated and taken to temporary shelters so far, according to PTI report.
B K Mishra, the chief engineer of the Water Resources Department, said, “keeping the IMD forecast of heavy rainfall, we are preparing for the eventuality. However, with a guarded discharge of water from Hirakud reservoir, the flow could be contained within 10.5 lakh cusec." The flood-hit districts are Angul, Bargarh, Boudh, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Khurda, Nayagarh, Puri, Sambalpur and Subarnapur.
(With inputs from PTI)
