The flood fury of rivers in Odisha eased a bit today but the situation in the delta zone of Mahanadi river system was still grim claiming 35 human lives and affecting around 18 lakh people.
Though the flood scenario has improved slightly, the situation in districts like Kendrapara and Puri still remained grim amid submergence of several areas, Deputy Relief Commissioner Prabhat Ranjan Mohapatra said.
Following receding water level in the river Baitarani and its tributaries, the situation in Jajpur and Bhadrak districts had started improving though many areas still remained inundated, he said.
As rainfall in upper catchment areas of the river Mahanadi declined, 15 sluice gates of the Hirakud dam were closed in phases since yesterday. Now 35 gates are open for discharge of excess water from Hirakud reservoir as against 50 sluice gates used yesterday, said Biswajit Mohanty, Chief Engineer of Hirakud dam.
The water level in Hirakud reservoir stood at 627 feet as against its full capacity of 630 ft, he said adding 4,40,769 cusec of water was flowing into the reservoir while the outflow was 6,16,436 cusec.
The rainfall in upstream areas of Hirakud was recorded at 0.32 mm in the last 24 hours, while the volume of rainfall during the period stood at 0.26 mm in downstream areas.
The flow of water in the Mahanadi through the Mundali rose from 10.88 lakh cusec to about 11.4 lakh cusec since this morning, Special Relief Commissioner's office said. Water level in Mahanadi stood at 26.96 mt as against the danger mark of 26.41 mt, it said.
Around 18 lakh people in 3,990 villages of 132 blocks in 1,084 gram panchayats spread over 23 districts have so far been affected due to the floods, SRC office said.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who took an aerial view of flood affected areas of Cuttack, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Puri districts yesterday, has announced relief for seven days to the people in areas badly affected by floods.
"Though Mahanadi river is flowing above danger mark at several places, there is no threat of substantial damage as the flow of water has come down," Mohapatra said.
The death toll in floods and heavy rains in different parts of the state stood at 35, the SRC office said adding, most of the casualties were due to drowning and wall collapse. One person was reported missing in Keonjhar district.
As many as 30 small breaches occurred in embankments leaving around 830 villages marooned. Steps would be taken to repair the breaches soon after the water receded, it said.
Around 85,000 of those who had been evacuated from low-lying areas to safety were sheltered in relief centres in 12 districts and about 243 kitchens were operating to provide them free cooked food, SRC office said.
