AMN
Flood waters have already affected more than half the districts in Odisha, especially in the low lying areas. This was caused by the continuous rainfall in the state during the last week coupled with heavy water inflow into the river Mahanadi, the largest in Odisha, from its upper catchment areas in neighbouring Chhattisgarh.
Excess water from the Hirakud dam over river Mahanadi is being released through more than 40 sluice gates. With Hirakud dam just short of brimming to its capacity at 630 ft, excess water now being released through river Mahanadi, is likely to impact the areas downstream.
Coastal districts like Puri, Khordha, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Nayagarh and Kendrapada which comprise the delta region of the river system are likely to experience inundation of varying degrees in certain areas, if the excess water breaches across to human habitations.
A couple of places in some of these districts as in Banki of Cuttack have already suffered submergence, snapping road communication. Meanwhile, water levels in other major rivers like Brahmani, Baitarani, Budhabalanga and Subhanrekha are slowly easing out.
The state administration, keeping a round the clock vigil on the situation, has deployed NDRF and ODRAF- Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force teams to stand by the people for any rescue and relief operations. On the other hand, side by side with damage control, damage assessment is also underway for the government to compensate for the losses that has befallen the flood affected people.