Odisha:Flood fear looms large as Hirakud Dam opens 24 gates

In Odisha, the rain-related death toll has mounted to six after one new casualty was reported from both Kendrapara and Subarnapur districts due to heavy rainfall in most parts for the last three days,Triggered by the depression formed over Bay of Bengal, 153 mm of rains have been recorded since September 12, According to special relief commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena over 2.3 million people in 4,964 villages, 33 municipalities and 139 blocks of 24 districts in Odisha have been affected. While over 7,500 houses have been damaged, around 130,000 hectare of agricultural land has been inundated. Around 20,552 persons have been evacuated in the last three days by two Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and one National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams in Balasore. In Bhadrak, one ODRAF team and one NDRF team were stationed, while two ODRAF teams were engaged in Kendrapara district.

Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh experiencing heavy rains for the last 48 hours and around 3.5 lakh cusec of water entering Hirakud reservoir per second, a medium flood looms large in Mahanadi river system. Jena said the Mahanadi river is expected to see a medium flood over the next 2 days in Odisha,  after 28 sluice gates of Hirakud reservoir in Burla of Sambalpur district were opened to accommodate rainwater. In the last 24 hours, the highest 125 mm rainfall was recorded at Ghatagaon in Keonjhar district followed by 122 mm at Bhograi in Balasore, 118 mm at Sabdega in Sundargarh, 116 mm at Sundargarh Sadar and 107 mm at Kakatpur.