By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, August 22, 2022: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Thursday made an aerial survey of five of the 12 flood hit districts of the state and announced relief for the affected for the next 15 days.

The aerial survey included the Mahanadi delta area falling between Luna, Chitratola and Paika rivers in Kendrapara district, Kujang and Naugaon in Jagatsinghpur district, Gop, Nimapara, Astarang, Delang, Pipili and Kanas areas of Puri district.

Naveen announced relief to the people of flood affected villages of the worst hit districts of Khudra, Puri, Cuttack, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur for 15 days while relief for seven days to the flood-hit people in Sambalpur, Bargarh, Sonepur, Boudh and Angul districts, which are all located in the upstream of river Mahanadi.

Both cooked and dry food, candles, matchboxes, drinking water pouches, medicines, baby food and other essentials will be provided to the flood victims by the government, he said.

Expressing concern over the inundation of the populated areas in the Mahanadi delta region in which many farmlands and houses have been damaged, Patnaik directed officials to expedite relief work, provide cooked food, healthcare service and supply drinking water to the people of the affected areas. He asked the department concerned to provide fodder and treatment to the cattle in the region.

Patnaik also directed the districts’ authorities to undertake damage assessment within seven days of the water receding from the villages and provide assistance to the affected people within 15 days.

After his return from the aerial survey Patnaik tweeted in Odia that the flood has caused damage to agriculture, roads, houses and other infrastructure.

Around five lakh people in 12 districts are reeling under the flood caused by the Mahanadi river after incessant rains lashed the state last week in the wake of a low pressure and a subsequent depression. There were reports of two minors missing in Cuttack and Balasore districts.

The flood-hit districts are Angul, Bargarh, Boudh, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Khurda, Nayagarh, Puri, Sambalpur and Subarnapur.

With the rains letting up in the upstream of Mahanadi River in Chhatisgarh 12 of the 40 gates of Hirakud dam were closed, special relief commissioner P K Jena said.

The reservoir level will be brought to 622 feet by 9 am on Friday, he added.

In view of the flood, Odisha Public Service Commission on Thursday postponed the written examination for recruitment of assistant section officers. The move came as a huge relief to thousands of job aspirants, who have been demanding that the examination slated to be held on Sunday be postponed.

The rescheduled date and time will be notified soon, the order by the Commission said.

The state government has closed schools in many flood affected areas, School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash told reporters here.

All government and private schools in Puri district which were earlier ordered to be closed till August 18 will remain so for two more days. Schools in Jagatsinghpur district were shut for two days on August 16 and 17 after many of them were inundated by floodwaters. The Nayagarh district administration had also ordered closure of 32 schools in three blocks for two days due to the flood situation.

Meanwhile, more heavy rains are apprehended after the met office said a low pressure system formed on Thursday over northeast and adjoining areas of the east-central Bay of Bengal.

It is likely to move east northwestwards, become more marked during the next 12 hours and turn into a depression during the subsequent 24 hours, the met office said in a bulletin.

The state government is now gearing up to deal with the situation created by another spell of heavy rain due to the low pressure and has asked district collectors of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Balasore, Bhadrak and Jajpur to remain on alert, Jena said.

“DCs of the northern districts have been instructed to monitor the situation even though we do not see any flood in north Odisha,” he said.

The special relief commissioner said that over 2.26 lakh people were marooned in 425 villages, while around 54,000 were evacuated and taken to shelters by Wednesday.