BHUBANESWAR: Even as the water level in the Mahanadi river system kept rising, the state government alerted the district administrations to be prepared to tackle the situation. Meanwhile, the government deployed NDRF, ODRAF, and fire service teams in the low-lying areas for the rescue operation.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday deputed senior IAS officers to monitor the flood situation in seven districts. While principal secretary in the industries department Hemant Sharma will remain in charge of Kendrapara district, principal secretary in the panchayat raj and drinking water department
Deoranjan Kumar Singh will monitor the situation in Cuttack district.
Commissioner-cum-Secretary (Sports and Youth Services) Vishal Dev has been deputed to Balasore district while Principal Secretary in the Revenue and Disaster Management department Bishnupada Sethi will remain in charge of Bhadrak district.
Besides, secretary in the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department Vir Vikram Yadav has been given charge of Jajpur district while Principal Secretary in the School and Mass Education department Satyabrata Sahu will remain in charge of Jagatsinghpur district. Revenue Divisional Commissioner (Central Division) Anil Kumar Sahu will monitor the situation in the Puri district.
The water level in the Hirakud dam has increased to 626.89 feet by 1 pm on Saturday. Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) PK Jena said while the inflow of water to the reservoir was 8.78 cusec per second, the outflow through 46 gates was 7.57 lakh cusec per second. Jena said that the discharge of floodwater at Khairmal, Barmul and Mundali was 10.02 lakh, 8.67 lakh and 9.48 cusecs per second, respectively. At Naraj, Mahanadi was flowing at a height of 25.41 metres as against the danger level of 26.41 metres.
The state government has deployed NDRF, ODRAF and Fire Services teams in the low lying areas of the districts on the Mahanadi basin for rescue operation anticipating a medium flood. Meanwhile, floodwater of Mahanadi entered several villages in the Banki block in Cuttack district. Road communication between Banki and Kalapathara has been disrupted due to the overflowing of floodwater on Chandrapa bridge.
Similarly, road communication between Baideswar and Karabara in the Bhapur block of Nayagarh district has been disrupted due to the overflowing water. Most villages in Haripur panchayat in Khurda district are marooned by the floodwater of Rajua river.