Flood fury: Odisha evacuates fifty thousand people

The Odisha government on Wednesday said it evacuated fifty thousand people in western Bolangir district following heavy flooding triggered by unprecedented rainfall in the area during the last 24 hours. The western district alone received 555 mm of rainfall, which was a record.

“Bolangir had never seen such heavy rainfall within a short span of 24 hours”, state’s special relief commissioner (SRC) Bishnupada Sethi said.

Large areas of the district, including several parts of district headquarters town of Bolangir were inundated by floodwaters.

Rescue teams had to use motorboats to bring marooned people from residential complexes to safety.

The evacuated people had been housed in temporary shelters opened by the district administration in different areas. Flood water reportedly even entered the home of the District Collector.

Apart from Bolangir, several other districts in western and southern Odisha like Bargarh, Sundergarh, Boudh, Subarnapur, Kalahandi, Koraput and Kandhamal received heavy rain during the last 24 hours.

The state government has announced relief for the flood-hit people in all the affected districts for seven days. SRC Sethi said 15 units of ODRAF (Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force) and three units of NDRF were currently engaged in flood-hit areas for rescue and relief operations. They are being assisted by local police and fire brigade personnel.

The current spell of heavy rain has helped the state move from being rainfall deficit to rainfall surplus. The state’s overall rainfall position now stands at 3.4% more than normal this monsoon.

It was 11% deficit till Tuesday. Sources in the revenue and disaster management department said that 15 out of 30 districts in the state have now received normal rainfall, while excess rainfall has been recorded in 8 districts. Only seven districts have received below normal rainfall till now.