Odisha floods caused Rs 219 cr loss and damage in five districts, says state govt

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government on Thursday put the loss and damage caused by recent floods in five southern districts of the state at nearly Rs 219 crore and sent a detailed report to the Centre for expeditious action. “Based on the reports received from different departments and the affected districts, the financial loss caused by these floods has been estimated at Rs 218.72 crore,” an official statement said. [caption id=“attachment_1655945” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] The damage assessment report covered the cost of damage during floods in five southern districts of Rayagada, Kalahandi, Malkangiri, Nawarangpur and Koraput which were severely affected due to heavy rain and floods in Nagavali, Kalyani, Indravati, Turi, Bhaskel, Bangeri, Hati and other river systems during 15 to 19 July, it said. In Rayagada, its two scheduled tribe dominated blocks Kalyansinghpur and Rayagada were the worst affected due to flood in rivers Nagavali and Kalyani. The disaster severely affected the lives and private as well as public properties in the affected districts. About 1.82 lakh people in 528 villages of 33 blocks of these five districts were affected by these floods. Notably, there was no human casualty in the worst affected Rayagada district due to proactive steps of the state government, while reports of loss of lives were received from Kalahandi and Malkangiri districts, it said As per preliminary assessment, 5,136 private houses have been damaged. Similarly, the flood water has badly affected 23,991 hectare of agriculture land. Agriculture land to the extent of 110.66 hectare has been sand cast in Nawarangpur district. Massive damage has been caused to public properties like canal/river embankments, roads, bridges, culverts, drains, water works, tube wells, LI points, electrical installations, telecommunications infrastructure, government buildings. As many as 116 PWD roads measuring 597.125 km have been damaged. Also, 160 CD works on PWD roads have been damaged and 31 breaches had occurred on PWD roads. Similarly, rural roads measuring a length of 128.320 km have been badly damaged. As many as 71 breaches have occurred in rural roads, 66 CD works have been damaged and 7 CDs have been washed away. Due to floods and heavy rain, properties/infrastructure of residential schools, roads, water supply, drainage, electricity, plantations have been badly damaged. Extensive damage has also occurred to soil conservation structures, water harvesting structures and check dams in Rayagada, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi and Malkangiri districts. As many as 83 Anganwadi Centres, 84 primary and upper primary schools and 38 high schools have been damaged due to floods in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts. 372 lift irrigation points of Kalahandi districts have been damaged due to flood water. The report on damage has been sent to Ministry of Home Affairs and the Centre was requested to take expeditious steps for restoration of the damaged railway bridges and tracks, damaged national highways and telecom lines.