Flood alert issued for four districts in Odisha following rising water level of Subarnarekha river

Bhubaneswar: With the water level in the Subarnarekha river recording a sudden rise after remaining steady for several hours, the Odisha government Thursday issued a flood alert for four districts.

The collectors of Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Balasore have been put on alert and instructed to deploy teams from the Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and fire services, if required.

The Subarnarekha water level, which was declining till Wednesday, suddenly increased due to opening of gates at Galidhi barrage in Jharkhand, said special relief commissioner (SRC) BP Sethi.

The river is flowing above the danger mark at Rajghat.

Sethi said 10 ODRAF teams have been kept ready, and an additional 10 have been kept in reserve to deal with a possible flood situation. Fire services units are also there. Besides, an NDRF unit has also been placed in Balasore, Sethi said.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy rainfall in one or two places in north Odisha in the next 24 hours.

Meanwhile, flood water inundated lowlands in Rourkela and Sundergarh towns in the western region of the state as the water level in the Brahmani, Koel and Ib rivers increased due to heavy rainfall in the upper catchment area in Chhattisgarh.

A report from Rourkela and Sundergarh towns said incessant rains in upstream Brahmani river area has flooded low lying places in the Rourkela Municipality. The flood waters entered some areas like Balughat, Chhend, Dandiapalli and Hamirpur where about 100 people were evacuated to a safer place.

The Brahmani river has crossed the danger mark of 78.420 meters and is presently flowing above 78.840 m.

Sundergarh Sadar MLA Jogesh Singh said areas like Ranibagichha and Mahadevpada have been inundated due to flood in the Ib river.

Meanwhile, four senior officers Thursday visited Jajpur, Bhadrak and Rayagada districts to oversee the flood situation as per the direction of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The officers are likely to submit their report to Patnaik on their return to the state capital.