877 villages cut off

BHUBANESWAR: The Mahanadi river surged into coastal Orissa inundating large tracts on its way as air-dropping of relief materials began on Sunday.With 14 lakh people caught in the grip of the severe flood and at least 877 villages marooned in nine districts, the State Government banked on receding water levels to reach out to people in the cut-off areas. As the the peak flood of 13.66 lakh cusec passed through the deltaic head, the Government had to evacuate close to 1 lakh people to safer places.The death toll rose to 16 while six persons were still missing in Nayagarh and Bargarh districts. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik made an aerial survey of four coastal districts and even indicated that the State Government could seek Central assistance for flood relief.Three helicopters made three sorties to Puri, Cuttack, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts but bad weather prevented their movement in the afternoon.“We will deploy one more chopper, starting Monday, to intensify the distribution of relief materials,” Revenue Minister S N Patro said. The damage was widespread as breaches on embankments along three major rivers __ Mahanadi, Brahmani and Baitarani __ led to massive inundation.There were at least 22 breaches __ minor and major __ along Mahanadi’s embankments alone.Brahmani reported 10 and Baitarani three breaches on embankments. While 93 blocks in 19 districts were declared flood-affected, Cuttack, Jajpur and Kendrapara bore the brunt of the fury.At least 3.33 lakh people in Cuttack were affected prompting the administration to evacuate 17,128 people.In Boudh, another 42,437 people had to be shifted to safer places.Over 2.8 lakh people in Jajpur and 2.67 lakh people in Kendrapara were caught in the flood. The Government opened at least 186 free kitchens but managed to feed just about 1.56 lakh people.Besides, the distribution of food materials from air remained inadequate as just 15 quintals could be supplied on the day.“  Although we are planning to air-drop 30 tonnes of essential items, including food, by the choppers on Monday, our emphasis will be on reaching out to people by road and through boats,” Special Relief Commissioner Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said. Road connectivity remained precarious in the affected districts.The road to Banki was snapped and the sub-divisional headquarters town remained surrounded by Mahanadi waters for the third day.Similarly, Choudwar- Athagarh road was breached.In Puri, the road to Konark from Nimapara was cut off.Similar reports came in from Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts.About 11 roads have been breached. The Government was hopeful that the situation would improve as the water level in Hirakud was dropping and both inflow and outflow had declined. “We have closed 24 more gates today and plan to close 12 more by night.Just 23 gates will remain open by Monday morning,” Water Resources Department Secretary Suresh Mohapatra said. With decline in rainfall, he said water flow through Mahanadi system would decrease and help alleviate the flood situation.FlowInto HirakudComes DownSAMBALPUR: The flood situation is likely to improve here with flow of water into Hirakud dam reservoir coming down to 6,38,000 cusec.Officials said the situation will further ease provided there is no rain and the inflow does not increase.The water level in the dam stands at 628.10 feet.Meanwhile, the closure of gates at Hirakud dam has brought down the water level in the Mahanadi river.The problem of water-logging in Sambalpur town has also eased.As the water level receded, Sambalpur Municipality opened sluice gates at Balibandha to discharge flood water.However, many areas, such as Govindtola, Charbati, Kulutkani, Mandalia, Chandan Nagar, Durgapali, Putibandh and Driver olony continued to be water-logged