Heavy rain triggers flood-like situation in Odisha; 3 dead so far

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Many districts in Odisha are facing a flood-like situation as incessant rainfall triggered by a low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal battered the state. While low-lying areas including paddy fields have been submerged and road links were snapped at several places, at least three people died in rain-related incidents.

Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Sudam Marndi informed that two persons in Mayurbhanj district and one in Keonjhar district died due to rain-related incidents.

There is a flood situation in Bhadrak and Keonjhar districts and several belts in Jajpur, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada districts.

The district administrations have evacuated people from low-lying areas to safer places.

Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Jena said a medium-level flood is expected in three major rivers of Odisha.

"A low to medium-level flood is expected in Bramhani, Baitarani and Subarnarekha river system. While all the officials have been put on alert, precautionary measures have been taken to deal with the situation," Jena said.

Baitarani, Burhabalanga, Subarnarekha and Jalaka rivers were flowing above the danger level by 6 pm on Thursday, informed the Water Resources department.

Meanwhile, a flood like situation may arise in the Mahanadi River as the Met department predicted heavy rainfall in the upper catchment area in the next 24 hours.

Heavy to very heavy rain may occur in the upper catchment of the Mahanadi River in Chhattisgarh and western Odisha districts in the next 24 hours.

Heavy rainfall is likely to occur in one or two places in the districts of Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Sonepur, Nuapada, Balangir and Nabarangpur in the next 24 hours, said Bhubaneswar MET centre director H.R. Biswas.

Currently, 16 sluice gates have been opened at the Hirakud reservoir to discharge floodwater.

By 6 pm, the water level at the reservoir is 622.08 ft. The dam registered water inflow of 5.56 lakh cusec and outflow of 2.68 lakh cusec.