Odisha floods: State likely to escape a major disaster as water level falls in rivers

Bhubaneswar: The north Odisha districts are likely to escape a major flood this time as the water level went down in almost all rivers on Wednesday. IMD in its warning, however, said that heavy rainfall is likely in one or two places over north Odisha during the next 48 hours. Special relief commissioner BP Sethi said, “We are hopeful because there is no major threat now as the water levels of most of the north Odisha rivers have started receding since Tuesday night. The water levels in them are either steady or falling at all places except at Jamsolaghat on Subernarekha river. [caption id=“attachment_2931156” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] He told reporters that the water levels of rivers Baitarani, Brahmani, Burhabalang and Jalaka are falling or are steady due to less rainfall in the upper catchment areas of the rivers. He said that some bridges have been washed away due to incessant rainfall in Keonjhar district. Sources in SRC’s office said though the flood water submerged a large paddy field at Bhandaripokhari and Dhamnagar block in Bhadrak district, Harichandanpur and Hatadihi blocks in Keonjhar district, the villages were unaffected. Some 40 odd villages, however, remained marooned as the roads and bridges leading to them have been washed away due to incessant rainfall. Sethi said that the district administrations of Balasore, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Jajpur are still on alert in view of the IMD’s forecast of heavy rainfall in certain places of the region. Meanwhile, a report from Balasore said that the flood situation in the district is improving. Subarnarekha river, which rose yesterday and is still above danger level at Rajghat near Jaleswar, is going down gradually on Wednesday. The water level was 11.15 metres against its danger level of 10.36 metre at 11 pm on Tuesday night, while at 6 am on Wednesday it was 11.05 metre. Vast areas of paddy land in the low lying areas of Basta, Baliapal, Jaleswar and Bhograi blocks have been submerged by flood waters. At least eight gram panchayats in Baliapal block, 21 panchayats in Bhograi block, 18 panchayats in Jaleswar block and 10 villages in Basta block have been affected due to the flood. One team of ODRAF has been sent to Baliapal.