1.77 lakh people affected by Odisha floods

The Odisha government on Saturday said the flash floods in different rivers triggered by heavy rain affected 1.77 lakh people in nine southern and western districts.

The rain has subsided after the deep depression formed in the Bay of Bengal weakened into a low pressure and crossed the state border. However, in some districts villages have still remained marooned though the water level has receded substantially. The floods claimed four lives and two are still missing.

“Situation is slowly becoming normal. The damages both to public and private properties due to the floods are being assessed”, a statement released by the revenue and disaster management department said.

The ordeal, nevertheless, seems to be far from over for both the government as well as people as the local met office has already predicted a fresh round of heavy rains in different parts of the state from coming Monday under the impact of yet another low pressure expected to be formed in the Bay of Bengal.

The nine districts which have been affected by the current floods are – Kalahandi, Bolangir, Kandhamal and Sambalpur in western Odisha and Gajapati, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nowrangpur and Rayagara in the south. Of the 1.77 lakh people affected by the calamity maximum, ninety thousand were from Kalahandi district.

The authorities of different districts had evacuated 16,424 people from marooned villages and they were housed in 99 shelters where the free kitchen had been made operational. In some districts, people are still there in the shelters.