Bhubaneswar: Five major river systems of Odisha have witnessed floods due to heavy rains triggered by three successive low pressures in the Bay of Bengal recently, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy said. North Odisha and coastal Odisha have been primarily affected in the floods in Mahanadi, Bramhani, Baitarani, Subarnarekha and Budhabalanga systems.
There has been extensive rainfall in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh over the past one and a half week. At Hirakud dam, 9.11 cusec (one cubic foot per second) water entered the Mahanadi system and 7.65 lakh cusec water was released. Total 46 gates were opened at Hirakud while three gates were closed recently.
“Today morning at Mundali (barrage) in Cuttack 10.02 lakh cusec passed and this high level flow will remain for 24 hours. This flow will be there till 11 am tomorrow. The water level / flooding is likely to affect parts of Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack and Puri districts,” he said.
As per latest information, Devi and Bhargavi rivers in Puri district are flowing above danger level. Senior officials, engineers of the Water Resources department are constantly monitoring the situation.
“Wherever there is a likelihood of breach in embankments, preventive action is being taken. The breaches that have been reported are in test relief embankments. The Capital Embankments are safe. One capital embankment was sabotaged by some miscreants, who have been arrested,” said Tripathy.
“The situation is improving, and the Chief Minister is scheduled to survey the flood-affected regions tomorrow. He will preside over a high-level meeting with officers following the survey,” the Chief Secretary added. As per the Chief Minister’s instructions, adequate number of rescue and relief teams have been deployed. The local leaders and public representatives have also extended cooperation to check the situation, he added.
