High Floods to hit Coastal Orissa; Govt. sounds alert

Bhubaneswar, Aug 30 (UNI) The Orissa government today alerted nine district collectors to be prepared to face high floods following heavy discharge of water in the upper catchments areas of the Mahanadi system during the last two days caused by a depression over North Bay of Bengal.

There would be every possibility of a major flood in the Mahanadi system as discharge of water from the river and its tributaries was very high following heavy rains in the upper catchment areas.

The situation is likely to worsen as the Chhatishgarh government had already announces that it would release water from Ravi Shankar Dam any time which would further aggravate the flood situation in the Mahanadi river system.

The District Collectors of Angul, Boudh, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda and Nayagarh had been asked to keep a strong vigil on the water level in all the major rivers in their district as nearly 12 lakh cusec water are likely to reach Mundali tonight.

People residing in the low lying areas in the Mahanadi river system had been asked to move to safer places as a precautionary measures to avoid being marooned.

Water level all the major rivers of Mahanadi river system had started rising alarmingly causing much headache for the state which had already witnessed four floods since June last affecting a population of over 25 lakhs in 27 districts taking 7o lives.

Report reaching the state control room here said the Kathjori, Kushabhadra, devi, Brahmni, Bhargavi, Birupa, Baitarani and Daya rivers are rising and several low lying areas along the coast of these rivers had already been flooded.

A report from Boudh said at least 100 villages had been submerged with the flood waters of Mahanadi and its tributaries.

Meanwhile, a central team is arriving here on September 4 next to assess the damage caused due to series of floods in the state between June and August.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who arrived here on August 28 on a two-day visit to the state announced an interim assistance of Rs 200 crores as floods assistance to the state.

The state government had already submitted a memorandum to the centre seeking for Rs 1131 crore assistance to meet the damages caused due to floods in four phases between June and August.

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