14 Odisha districts hit, more rain expected

The deluge was triggered by incessant rain in the state as well as neighbouring Chhattisgarh.

The Mahanadi, the biggest river in the state, originates from Chhattisgarh. The situation is expected to worsen as the weather office predicted more rainfall in the two states during the next 48 hours. “Nearly 11 lakh cusecs of flood water will be passing through the Mahanadi river system by Friday night which is expected to go up to 13.5 lakh cusecs on Saturday,” state’s Special Relief Commissioner  Pradipta Mohapatra said on Friday.

Sluice gates opened

Fifty-nine of the 64 sluice gates of the Hirakud dam on the Mahanadi were opened to release the flood waters into the river system.

The maximum water holding capacity of the dam located in western Odisha Sambalpur district is 630 feet. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held a high-level emergency meeting at the state secretariat on Friday morning to review the flood situation.

After the meeting he said all measures have been initiated to tackle the floods.

“We are closely monitoring the situation. The local administrations in affected districts are fully geared up face any eventuality. Collectors have already been directed to provide emergency relief to the affected people for seven days,” said Patnaik.

 Sources in the revenue department said hundreds of villages in the coastal districts like Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur and in western districts like Sonepur, Boudh and Sambalpur have already been marooned by the flood water.

People in the low-lying areas of the affected districts have been alerted to shift to safe places.

In some districts, people have already been evacuated.

Personnel from the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force have been deployed to different districts for rescue and relief operations.