Swollen river, dam pose flood threat to Gajapati

BERHAMPUR: Panic gripped residents of the low-lying areas along the Vansadhara riverbank at Kashinagar in Gajapati district as the swollen stream, along with excess rainwater released from the Harabhangi dam, posed a threat of floods.
The Vansadhara was flowing at 53.81 metres at Kashinagar at 4 pm on Monday, slightly below its danger level of 54.6 metre. The water level of the river has increased following heavy rainfall triggered by the cyclone.The district recorded an average rainfall of 63.80mm in the past 24 hours, ending at 8am on Monday.
District collector (Gajapati) Lingaraj Panda, however, ruled out the possibility of floods in the district. “We, along with our Srikakulam district counterpart, visited the Gotta barrage. All 24 gates of the barrage have been opened by the Srikakulam administration on our request,” Panda said. He added that the engineers of the water resources development departments of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh took stock of the situation near the barrage before releasing water from the Harabhangi dam.
Meanwhile, those living in the low-lying areas of the riverbank were moved to safer places.
Panda said a search operation by the personnel of the fire department and the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force was on to trace one G. Rama (35) of Sailada village who went missing while crossing the Mahendratanaya in the evening. The collector said no major damage was reported due to the cyclonic storm in the district, while work was on to restore road communication.