Floodwater recedes, but 20 Balasore villages still marooned

Balasore: Though the floodwaters of Subarnarekha have started receding due to a fall in the water flow from the upper catchments, 20 villages spread over six panchayats in Balasore district still remain cut off from the mainland.

Reports said while floodwaters have receded slightly in Baliapal and Bhogarai blocks, about 20 villages of Baliapal, Bishnupur, Asti, Madhupura and Jamakunda panchayats are still marooned as the floodwaters have entered through a breach in the embankment near Rasulpur village.

The plight of the marooned villagers has worsened as there has been no supply of medicines and drinking water in the last two days.

As per the latest reports, release of floodwater from Galudih barrage in neighbouring Jharkhand has reduced to almost half. While 2.85 lakh cusecs of water per second was released on Thursday, 1.27 lakh cusecs of water per second was being released from five sluice gates of the barrage by noon today.

While the floodwater of Subarnarekha was flowing at a height of 10.70 metres at Rajghat as against the danger mark of 10.36 metres by 2 PM, the water level has come down below the danger mark by 7 PM, the reports added.

Talking to OTV in Bhubaneswar, Deputy Relief Commissioner Prabhat Mohapatra said the flood situation in Balasore district is improving rapidly with the recession of floodwaters below the danger mark at Rajghat and Jamshola Ghat. “As the floodwater is being released in the sea at a faster rate, we expect that the it will recede completely from the villages in the embankment area by tomorrow,” he added.