Bhubaneswar: More than 67,000 people in three districts of the state remain affected by the second wave of floods, with the meteorological department Friday forecasting heavy rain in the state’s north and coastal regions till September 2, potentially worsening the situation. The state has already suffered two bouts of flooding owing to heavy rainfall this monsoon.
The second spell of flood in the state since August 13 has so far impacted 13,50,306 people in 1,895 villages. However, the situation has improved in many places as the water levels in all major rivers have receded. “The water level in almost all the rivers was flowing much below the danger mark,” said a senior officer. According to the office of the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), Kendrapada, Bhadrak and Jajpur districts still require close monitoring as 67,961 people in 181 villages and 11 ur ban pockets remain inundated. Though the roads to most of the villages have been cleared, waterlogging has been reported in some isolated areas, an official said, adding that the government is operating 67 free kitchens for people still sheltered in flood relief centres.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast a fresh low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal, which could trigger heavy to very heavy rainfall in the flood-affected districts in the north and coastal regions of the state. “A fresh low-pressure area is likely to form over the Bay of Bengal around Saturday and trigger heavy to very heavy rain in Odisha over the next week,” said Manorama Mohanty, the director of the meteorological centre in Bhubaneswar. Orange alert for heavy to very heavy rain has been issued till 8:30am Saturday in Mayurbhanj, Kendujhar and Baleshwar districts. Odisha received light to moderate rain at a few places, while heavy rainfall was recorded in Mayurbhanj, Baleshwar, Koraput and Kendujhar districts.
For August 30 and 31, the IMD issued a red alert for heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and warned of a downpour at one or two places in Mayurbhanj district.
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