ODISHA GOVT PREPARES FOR NEXT SPELL OF RAIN
Bureau,Odishabarta
Bhubaneswar: Amid the flood situation in Mahanadi river system remaining grim on Wednesday, the administration is bracing up for the next spell of heavy rain from Thursday as forecast by the Meteorological department.
“Wednesday night is considered crucial for Mahanadi delta region as peak flood water will pass through Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Puri and Khurda districts. About 10 lakh cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water will flow through the delta region which may inundate more villages,” Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Kumar Jena said.
More than 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. Jena said 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.
The State Government said though the water flow at Mundali barrage near Cuttack has slightly declined and reached 10.57 lakh cusecs by 6 pm on Wednesday from 12 lakh cusecs on Tuesday, a heavy spell of rain as forecast by IMD may add to the flood fury.
“Keeping the IMD forecast of heavy rainfall, we are preparing for the eventuality. However, with guarded discharge of water from Hirakud reservoir, the water flow could be contained within 10.5 lakh cusecs,” B K Mishra, the chief engineer of Water Resources department, said. He said the water level in Hirakud reservoir stood at 626.14 feet at 8 pm on Wednesday while its depth was 630 feet.
At least six breaches have been created in embankments of the Mahanadi and its tributaries while the officials could manage to plug rat holes at as many as 197 places, Mishra said. With flood water inundating more villages, the State Government has deployed more rescue teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and Odisha Fire Services.
Odisha Fire Services personnel rescued a 7-day-old baby and the mother from Khetrapara Pradhan Sahi of Sundarpada in Bhubaneswar. Similarly, the personnel of ODRAF rescued a father-son duo from an islet at Amangeikuda in Cuttack district, who were stranded there for four days due to the flood.
The Meteorological department has forecast heavy rainfall in 20 districts on Thursday and very heavy rain in 17 districts on Friday as a new low pressure area is developing, the third in the past overnight.
#DNS & Picture courtesy of PIB.
