More than three lakh people in 20 districts of Odisha have been affected in rain-related incidents, official sources said here today.
A preliminary assessment indicated that 7,772 houses have been partially or fully damaged in the deluge that lasted for around four days, beginning on July 20, they said.
Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) B P Sethi stated that the district authorities have been asked to complete the assessment of damages to private properties in two weeks and furnish a report for allotment of funds in the affected areas.
The situation has changed for better over the past two days in many rain-affected districts, but the low-lying areas in Sambalpur are still grappling with a flood-like situation.
"The officials in Sambalpur are running 23 free kitchens for the flood-affected population. Apart from that, emergency assistance is also being provided to people living in the low-lying areas of the district," Sethi said.
Sources in the Met department today said the state has recorded just 1.4mm average rainfall in the past 24 hours.
"Altogether, 21 districts have received little showers since yesterday. Malkangiri is south Odisha received the maximum rainfall of 16.3 mm. Nine districts, including Balangir, Boudh, Dhenkanal, Kandhamal, Kendrapada and Puri, have not received any rainfall in 24 hours," he added.
Meanwhile, five more sluice gates of Hirakud Dam were opened today, in addition to the 15 spillways yesterday, to release excess water into river Mahanadi, an official said.
After draining out 2.5 lakh cusecs of floodwater through 15 sluice gates yesterday, the authorities decided to open five more spillways around 2am today in view of the full moon on July 27, said Jyotirmaya Rath, the chief engineer of Hirakud Dam.
"As full moon leads to swelling of seas, water from the reservoir cannot be effectively drained into the river during that period. Keeping that in mind, we decided to open five more gates after midnight," he said
The season's first floodwater, released around 12 noon yesterday, was expected to reach Mundali near Cuttack this evening, he said, adding that the level at the reservoir has come down to 615.41 feet at 12 noon today from 616.31 feet around 6 am, Rath said.
Dispelling fears of another flood-like situation due to discharge of water from the dam, Deputy SRC Pravat Ranjan Mohapatra said the reservoir water would not affect the Mahanadi River System.
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