Mahanadi Flood: 5 Odisha Districts on High Alert

Bhubaneswar: Five districts in Odisha are on high alert because of the continuing rise in water level in the Mahanadi river.

Cuttack, Khurdha, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, and Kendrapada districts have been put under a red alert.

Flooding of the Mahanadi river basin has already marooned thousands of people.

Mahanadi and its tributaries are on spate since Friday night. Several villages in Banki and Athagarh areas in the Cuttack district are reported inundated. It is feared that the floodwater may inundate many more low-lying villages in Puri, Kendrapara, and Jagatsinghpur.

Several areas in Nayagarh, Boudh, and Sonepur have suffered waterlogging. In Nayagarh district, many roads and culverts are submerged snapping road communication.

Keeping a view of the situation, patrolling is underway along the embankments of the river. Hundreds of people living in low-level areas have been evacuated to safer places.

The State Water Resource Department has deployed eight senior officers to monitor the situation closely. Added to it, 106 teams are deployed in 16 districts for rescue and flood relief operations.