Odisha Braces for “Medium” Flood in Mahanadi Basin

Bhubaneswar: With the flow of water at Mundali barrage expected to reach its peak by Thursday evening, Odisha is preparing to face a ‘low to medium’ flood in the Mahanadi river basin.

According to the engineer-in-chief of the Water Resources Department, Bhakta Ranjan Mohanty, the floodwater flow in the Mahanadi river at Mundalu is expected to be around 9 to 9.5 lakh cusecs by Thursday evening.

This floodwater will affect low-lying areas of Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, and Puri districts on Friday. These areas may face a medium-scale flood.

Preparations have been made in seven districts in view of possible flood in the Mahanadi river system, the SRC office said in a Tweet on Thursday.

Collectors of 12 districts, where at least 481 villages have been affected by incessant rains have been directed to submit damage assessment reports when the rain subsides.

Earlier, the office of the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) had asked the collectors of Angul, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, and Kendrapada to take precautionary measures and guard weak embankments through 24X7

patrolling of vulnerable river embankments with the support of local police and DoWR engineers. Evacuation of people from low-lying areas as per requirement, and shifting them to safe shelters with light, toilets, and water and food arrangements was also ordered.

Meanwhile, 8 NDRF teams, 13 ODRAF teams, and 23 Fire Services teams have also been deployed in 15 districts, including Bhadrak, Jajpur, Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Angul, Sonepur, Boudh, Kandhamal, Balasore, Cuttack, Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada for search and rescue operations.