Swelling Mahanadi raises flood spectre; 2 more die in wall collapse
Rescue workers get villagers to safety in flood-hit Dhamnagar block of Bhadrak district on Friday
BHUBANESWAR: The flood-related death toll in the state increased to 12 on Friday with four more deaths even as heavy rain in the upper catchment of Mahanadi in the past 24 hours has aggravated the situation for a medium-range flood in the river system.
A three-month-old baby girl in Jajpur district and a 65-year-old man in Nuapada died in wall collapse. Two others, a seven-year-old girl in Bargarh and a 51-year-old man of Bhadrak, drowned.
The flood situation in other major rivers including the Brahmani, Baitarani, Subarnarekha, Budhabalanga and Jalaka remained grim though the water level of all had started receding by afternoon or evening. More than six lakh people across 1,300 villages mostly in Bhadrak, Balasore, Jajpur and Kendrapada have been affected owing to the flood while over 42,000 people have so far been evacuated to safety, said official sources.
In the Mahanadi system, over 10 lakh cusecs of water is expected to flow at Mundali in Cuttack by Saturday evening as 40 sluice gates of Hirakud have been opened. The resultant ‘medium’ flood in the Mahanadi system is likely to inundate the low-lying areas.
Flood fear in low-lying areas
It is feared that the flood in the Mahanadi system could affect parts of districts such as Cuttack, Puri, Khurda, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Sambalpur and Subarnapur. Panic has gripped people living in the river’s low-lying areas.
“Around 10 to 10.5 lakh cusec water is likely to flow at Mundali, which may cause a medium-range flood. In the past, the Mahanadi system had handled nearly 16 lakh cusecs of water. The district collectors in the Mahanadi system have been put on alert. I have personally asked the district collectors to take stock of the preparedness,” said special relief commissioner (SRC) PK Jena.
Chief secretary Asit Tripathy took stock of the situation in the vulnerable districts along