The recent spell of flood which has hit ten districts in the state, has claimed 27 human lives and affected 0.22 million hectares of crop while 1,332 villages still remain marooned despite all-out efforts by the state government to reach out to the flood hit people.
Apart from 27 persons who have lost their lives in the flood, there are reports of three persons missing in Angul, Mayurbhanj and and Kendrapara districts.
Meanwhile, a sub-team of inter-ministerial central committee consisting of four members, currently on a tour to the state, on Tuesday visited the flood affected areas of Sambalpur, Bargarh and Sonepur.
The remaining six members including the team leader O P Mahey, joint secretary, Union ministry of home affairs will arrive in the city on Wednesday. The other members of the team include R K Verma, director, Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Anar Singh, senior research officer, Planning Commission, D K Singh, under secretary, Union ministry of rural development, Deena Nath, deputy director, Union ministry of finance and Sudhir Saxena, senior consultant, Union ministry of drinking water and sanitation.
This six-member team will visit Puri district on Wednesday while the other team will visit the flood affected areas of Jajpur and Kendrapara districts. The visiting Central delegation will hold talks with top officials of the state government on Friday.
Meanwhile, the collectors of the ten affected districts have been asked to submit damage reports of the recent flood by Thursday, said Special Relief Commissioner Pradipta K Mohapatra.
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Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday undertook an aerial survey of the flood affected areas of Sambalpur and Sonepur districts.
Flood in all the rivers including Brahmani and Baitarani have receded below the danger level. The 10 districts affected by the recent flood include Angul, Balasore, Bhadrak, Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Keonjhar, Kendrapara, Mayurbhanj and Sundergarh.
The flood has impacted 3,459 villages under 698 gram panchayats in 12 urban local bodies and 88 wards. The population affected stood at 2.20 million. As many as 38,939 houses have been ravaged by the flood.
Five helicopters of Indian Air Force and Indian Navy have been pressed into service for air-dropping of food packets in the most affected areas of Jajpur, Bhadrak and Kendrapara districts. The state government through its rescue and relief operations has already evacuated 0.15 million people from the inundated areas.
As many as 379 free kitchen centres have been opened to provide cooked food to the evacuated persons. Fifty five units of Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), 77 units of National Defence Reserve Fleet (NDRF) and 28 units of fire services have been deployed for search and rescue operations.