Bhubaneswar: The state govt on Sunday issued a high alert for some north Odisha districts as the flood situation worsened with rivers Baitarani, Brahmani and some tributaries witnessing a rising trend again following widespread rainfall.This development came in the wake of the formation of a fresh low-pressure area over northwest Bay of Bengal on Sunday. A red warning has been issued for extremely heavy rainfall in three districts — Balasore, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj — till Monday by India Meteorological Department (IMD). This apart, orange and yellow warnings of heavy to very heavy rainfall have been issued for 11 and six districts respectively, including Bhadrak and Jajpur, till Tuesday.Chief secretary Anu Garg on Sunday told media that 5.15 lakh people in 947 villages under 49 blocks of mostly five districts — Bhadrak, Balasore, Jajpur, Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar — are affected due to the flash floods in two to three days, as rivers Baitarani, Brahmani, Salandi, Jalaka, Subarnarekha and Budhabalanga were overflowing.According to official reports, river Brahmani, which was flowing over danger level at Indupur, inundated its catchments in Kendrapara district.“Around 2.37 lakh people have been evacuated and are being provided free food at 293 camps. The govt is fully prepared. The district administrations were directed to stay prepared and ensure uninterrupted rescue and relief operations,” she said.The govt has also cancelled leave for all govt employees. Garg said the officials currently on leave should report back to duty immediately and asked them not to leave headquarters without prior permission. Three senior officials, Sudhansu Mohan Samal, K Sudarshan Chakravathy and P Anvesha Reddy, were being sent to Bhadrak, Balasore and Jajpur respectively to coordinate field operations, the chief secretary said.The senior engineers from water resources department too have been asked to monitor the river levels, embankments and flood‑control structures.Garg said around 17 teams of National Disaster Response Force, 36 of ODRAF and 43 of fire service were deployed in the affected areas. The collectors were told to intimate immediately about any further requirement.Meanwhile, Banspal in Keonjhar district recorded highest 135.6 mm rainfall in last 24 hours in the state, according to the official rainfall report in the morning. Barkot in Deogarh and Tensa in Sundergarh followed with 135.2 mm and 134.6 mm rainfall respectively during the period.Manorama Mohanty, head of the regional IMD centre, said rainfall activity under the influence of the system would continue mostly till Aug 18. “Around 20 places received heavy rainfall in last 24 hours,” she said.
