Flood damages in Orissa likely to cross Rs 2500 crore

Bhubaneswar, Sep 7 (UNI) The extent of damages caused by the series of flood, that engulfed 27 of the total 30 districts in Orissa since July is likely to exceed Rs 2500 crore, official sources here today said.

Orissa had witnessed as many as five floods within a span of a month wrecking havoc and affecting almost all the four zones following a series of depressions over the North Bay of Bengal which also led to heavy rains in the Upper catchments areas of Mahanadi system.

Special Relief Commissioner Jagadananda Panda said initially the government submitted a memorandum to the Centre stating that the extent of damages due to the flood was around Rs 1131 crore.

Later, it was revised to Rs 1797 crore when a seven-member central team led by Joint Secretary in Ministry of Home Affairs S K Chhatopadhya arrived here on September 4 last to assess the damages in the state.

The team met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today at the state secretariat and admitted that the flood situation in the state was grave.

The team assured the Chief Minister that they would apprise the Centre of the flood situation and make all efforts to ensure that money from the National Calamity Relief Fund (NCRF) be released to tackle the floods.

Mr Panda said the state government would submit a final memorandum to the Centre by the end of this month stating the extent of damages to the peoples' lives and property.

He, however, indicated that the total damages in the floods would cross Rs 2500 crore. It would be something between Rs 2500 and Rs 2800 crore as more damages to the property and crop were pouring in with the receding of flood waters from many parts of the state.

The floods have so far claimed 87 lives. While crops over an area of seven lakh hectares had been destroyed. More than 1.5 lakh houses were damaged. Thousands of villages were still marooned in the flood water disrupting road communication at many places.

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