Odisha: 550 students stranded in school due to floods, 7 rescued

Several students and teachers were stuck after a school was marooned in Gatiroutpatana village in Cuttack district of Odisha on Tuesday.

According to reports, a total of 550 students and 80 teachers were stranded in the school premises due to flash flood in Mahanadi river.

Five fire department teams have been deployed for rescue operations.

As per latest updates, seven students and one teacher were rescued. 

Earlier today, holding a review meeting on the flood situation in Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik asked the collectors of the 10 districts to remain alert and take all possible steps to tackle the flood-like situation.

Patnaik asked the concerned officials to evacuate the people living in the vulnerable areas to a safer place and provide them adequate relief. He also directed the concerned departments to render all kinds of assistance to the affected districts to deal with the situation. 

Nine ODRAF teams have been kept ready in seven districts, while nine NDRF teams have been stationed in six districts. About 44 teams of fire service have been kept on alert for the floods, Special Relief Commissioner P.K. Jena said in a briefing. 

In a major development, Odisha government on Tuesday decided to release excess flood water by opening more gates of Hirakud dam.

As per latest decision, out of the 64 sluice gates, around 40 gates of Hirakud will be opened to flush out excess floodwater by tonight. 10 (5 each) additional gates of Hirakud dam were opened in the first phase in the afternoon and evening today and a total of 14 gates will be opened in total during this period, informed dam Chief Engineer Ananda Chandra Sahu.