BHUBANESWAR: Over a million people in at least 19 districts of Orissa have been hit by flood in the Mahanadi river systems which, with increased volume of water reaching the deltaic head of the State by Saturday night, was set to grip more and more areas in the downstream coastal pockets over the next few days.As many as 2,550 villages in 85 blocks and 13 urban local bodies were estimated to have been either flooded or marooned.Cuttack, Puri, Bargarh, Nuapara, Deogarh, Kendrapara and Jajpur districts bore the brunt of the flood while the death toll soared to 11. At least 60,000 people have been evacuated to safer places in 11 districts while many are fleeing to nearby roads and embankments.The Government has mobilised the Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force and opened free kitchens at over 10 places. An Indian Navy ship, carrying a Chetak helicopter, relief materials and rescue teams, were set to reach Paradip to help the State administration. A 26-seater Mi-17 helicopter, which the Centre had sanctioned for anti-Naxal operation, will be used for air-dropping relief. With discharge of flood water at Munduli, the deltaic head of the coastal Orissa, expected to reach 14 lakh cusec by Saturday night, the volume of water into tributary rivers was likely to rise significantly and flood low-lying areas of Cuttack, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Nayagarh and Khurda. Although the flow at Munduli was 13.33 lakh cusec and more water was gushing down from Barmul, the State Government put up a brave face saying that things were under control. “We are expecting a peak flood water discharge of 13.5 lakh cusec at Munduli by Sunday morning which will then start to drop.Chances of the discharge reaching 14 lakh cusec is much less,” Water Resources Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra said. The Government took heart from the fact that inflow into Hirakud reservoir had steadied at 9.94 lakh cusec, while the outflow was 9.74 lakh cusec.The dam authorities had closed four crest gates leaving 55 gates open.With less rainfall on the upstream, the flow is likely to decline, Mohapatra said.Discharge from Ong, Tel and Suktel had fallen to 2 lakh cusec. By midnight, the flow had jumped to 13.58 lakh cusec at Munduli as Mahanadi was swelling by the hour with downstream receiving more water.The river was flowing above the danger level at Naraj. Under its impact, over 24,000 people in Boudh, 14,000 in Sambalpur and another 7,500 in Bargarh were shifted. Special Relief Commissioner P K Mohapatra said the next three days will be critical since water evacuation into the Bay of Bengal may slow down because of tidal conditions owing to full moon since Monday. With reports of breaching of embankment and roads coming in, the impact of the flood was still to be felt. Nimapara-Konark road had been snapped at Kusupur village near Gop.Pipili- Jatni and Pipili-Delang roads were submerged. The situation was worse in Kendrapara where a 30-foot breach occurred on Chitrotpala river embankment at Narasinghpur under Patkura. Kuakhai river was swelling and flood water had moved close to Hi-Tech Medical College and Mancheswar area by midnight.
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