Bhubaneswar: The government of Odisha had asked the collectors of six districts in the state to stay alert in the delta region, with water level swelling in Baitarani Rivers and Mahanadi rivers due to depression-induced heavy rainfall. The total death toll till now is reported to be at least 12.

The government of the state acknowledged “low to medium” flood in Mahanadi and Bitarani and asked district collectors in the delta region to be prepared to handle all emergency situations.

“We should remain in a state of full preparedness to tackle any emergency situation and provide immediate relief to the affected people,” Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said after taking stock of the situation here.

Mr. Patnaik pressed on the need for the district authorities to estimate damages caused by the loss and said that the state has received heavy rainfall for the last three days and this forced us to evacuate some people and provide temporary shelter.

There are reports of four person’s death in Kalahandi district, while other two persons were killed in Sambalpur, and another one each in Kandhamal, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Subarnapur, Nayagarh and Malkangiri districts, Special Relief Commissioner’s (SRC) office sources said.

As of now, SRC BP Sethi has put the collectors of districts like Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jaipur, Jagatsinghpur, Khurda and Puri in the delta area of Mahanadhi on high alert due to the fact that at least 7,30,877 cusec of water flowed through Mundali gauge station near Cuttak by the evening.

In a similar way, the collectors of districts like Keonjhar, Jaipur, and Bhadrak districts have been directed to get prepared for the rising water level up to the danger level at 17.83 m in the river Baitarani.

Not less than four lakh people in a total of 62 blocks in 14 districts have been affected, the officials reported and said that there has been no major breach in any of the river embankment so far.

The affected districts include Angul, Boudh, Bargarh, Deogarh, Jaipur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Khurda, Koraput, Nayagarh, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Subarnapur and Puri.

The season’s first water release has been announced tomorrow by the authorities of the Hirakud reservoir. This step may add further woes to the present flood situation in the river Mahanadi system.

However, Water Resources Secretary PK Jena said, “The release of water from the Hirakud Dam will not add to the flood situation in Mahanadi. This is because the water from Hirakud will take 36 hours to reach Mundali. By the time the Hirakud water reaches Cuttack, the existing water may be released to the sea for 36 hours.”

The water level reached by 616.45 feet at 6 pm today in the Hirakud dam which has a total limit of 630 feet of storage capacity.

The weather department there had forecasted more rains in the coming next 24 hours and as a result, the water level is expected to rise in Mahanadi and Baitarani.

The weak embankments and canals will be kept under close watch by the mobile teams of the Water Resources Department.

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