Orissa flood hits 14 lakh people, 1109 villages marooned

Bhubaneswar, Sep 12 (PTI) Government in the eastern
Indian state Orissa today stepped up air-dropping of food
packets as flood situation continued to be grim on Monday with
Mahanadi river flowing above the danger mark in delta region,
affecting 14 lakh people and snapping road links with about
1,000 villages.
Flood in Mahanadi, Subarnarekha, Budhabalang and
Baitarani rivers affected 14 lakh people in 19 of the 30
districts of the state where 17 people were killed and 11
others are missing, officials said.
Of the 17 people killed, maximum five deaths were
reported from Jajpur district followed by four in Kendrapara
district, three in Mayurbhanj, two each in Dhenkanal and
Sambalpur districts and one in Bhadrak district, the Special
Relief Commissioner (SRC) P K Mohapatra said.
With the number of marooned villages rising to 1109 from
877 on Sunday, the government stepped up relief operation by
deploying four helicopters in completely cut off areas of
Kendrapara, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts.
Orissa's Chief minister Naveen Patnaik made an aerial
survey over the flood-hit areas in western districts like
Sambalpur, Subarnapur and Bolangir and announced seven days
relief for the affected people.
Meanwhile, damage to 23,816 dwelling houses were reported
from 11 districts while 1,48,011 persons had been evacuated
from low lying areas to safe places, and 270 relief camps and
free kitchens were opened for affected people.
Besides four choppers to drop relief materials and 911
boats were engaged in rescue and relief operation.
Following halt in rains in upper catchment area and
reduced inflow, water level in Hirakud reservoir dropped
marginally to 628.43, officials said.
As a result only 16 sluice gates of the Hirakud Dam were
kept open to maintain balance. Both the inflow and outflow of
water in the reservoir was maintained within 3.5 lakh cusec,
they said.
Though water started receding in submerged areas of
Sambalpur, Sonepur, Boudh and Bargarh districts, floods in the
entire Mahanadi River system in the delta region continued to
play havoc.
Water level at many places including Naraj, Jobra,
Alipingala and Daleighai remained above the danger mark.
However, officials hope that the situation would improve
by Tuesday in badly affected areas of Jagatsinghpur,
Kendrapara, Cuttack, Jajpur, Puri and Nayagarh districts with
discharge of water into the sea, Mohapatra said.
About 48 breaches in the Mahanadi river system have
inundated a large number of villages, sources in water
resources department said, adding several areas on the
outskirts of the state capital of Bhubaneswar were inundated
by flood waters of Kuakhai and Daya rivers.
Several roads including Cuttack-Banki, Choudwar-Athgarh,
Sathipur-Jajpur, Barchana-Balichandrapur, Tartol-Hansura,
Rahama-Khosalpur, Tirtol-Kolar and Tirtol-Posal roads were cut
off due to breaches and submergence, they said.
The water level in other major rivers like Subarnarekha,
Budhabalang, Baitarani, Brahmani, Bansadhara and Rushikulya
was falling.