At least two persons were killed, 2.4 lakh people affected and thousands of acres of agricultural land inundated as the depression induced heavy rainfall caused floods in Odisha's five districts prompting the state government to launch rescue and relief operations.
The five districts which have been affected due to the floods in the Subarnarekha, Budhabalang and Baitarani rivers were Keonjhar, Jajpur, Mayurbhanj, Balasore and Bhadrak.
"Two persons Dora Singh Sahu (40), owner of a medicine store at Baliapal town in Balasore district and his assistant Kabula (30) were swept away by flood waters of Subarnarekha river while crossing a flooded road. The bodies are yet to be recovered," deputy special relief commissioner (DSRC) Pravat Ranjan Mohapatra said.
"Even as flood situation in Baitarani and Subarnarekha rivers has shown some improvement due to reduced rainfall in their catchment areas last night, the flood situation in Subarnarekha river passing through Balasore district continued to remain severe due to continuous heavy rainfall both in Odisha and Jharkhand," said special relief commissioner G V V Sarma.
The release of water from Galudihi barrage in Jharkhand has further aggravated the situation in Subarnarekha river, he said, adding so far two breaches have occurred on the embankment of river Baitarani - one near Ganeswarpur in Jajpur district and the other near Khaljori in Chandabali block of Bhadrak district.
As per preliminary estimates by the revenue and disaster management department, about 2.4 lakh people of 282 villages under 11 blocks in five districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Jajpur, Bhardak and Balasore have been affected by the current spell of floods.
