Bhubaneswar: Flood has affected at least 14 lakh people across 20 districts of the State, the State Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep Jena informed on Sunday.
A total of 3256 villages under 896 Gram Panchayats in 112 blocks have been hit due to massive flood resulting in the wake of incessant rainfall due to back to back low pressures on Bay of Bengal.
Several parts of the districts like Angul, Balasore, Bargarh, Bhadrak, Boudh, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Kendrapara, Keonjhar, Khordha, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Puri, Sambalpur, Sonepur and Sundergarh have been fully or partially hit due to the natural calamity.
As informed by the Special Relief Commissioner, the State has so far witnessed 17 deaths due to the flood while 1.69 Lakh hectares of farm land continues to remain hit by the flood
The SRC further informed that around 2,65,723 people in 340 villages have been marooned by the flood water till the latest reports were filed.
Providing more statistics on the damage, SRC said that approximately, 10,382 houses have been damaged and to provide relief to the affected persons, 357 free kitchens have been opened in the affected areas through which 57,824 beneficiaries have been served food.
To provide medical assistance to ailing persons, 45 numbers of medical teams and 42 veterinary teams have been deployed in flood-hit areas.
Similarly, 14 NDRF, 17 ODRAF and 22 Fire Services teams have been mobilised in different areas for rescue and relief operations.
However, in a big respite to people, the authorities of Hirakud dam have closed down six sluice gates of the total 46 gates which were earlier opened to release floodwater from the reservoir.
As per the information of the SRC, by 9 pm (August 30), the water inflow into the dam from Chhattisgarh was falling. The level of water in the dam stood at 627.89 feet against the full level of 630 feet. Inflow of water into the dam was 688989 cusec and outflow 716368 cusec.
CM Naveen To Make Aerial Survey Tomorrow
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will conduct an aerial survey of areas affected by the devastating flood tomorrow, informed Chief Secretary Asit Tripaty.
After accessing the situation, the CM will hold a meeting with senior officials, Tripathy said.
“Under CM’s direction all the measures are being taken. Adequate numbers of ODRAF, NDRF and fire services personnel have been deployed to carry out rescue and relief operations,” Tripathy said.
(Edited By Suryakant Jena)
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