BHUBANESWAR/NEW DELHI, 20 July — Flood situation in the eastern state of Orissa continued to be grim yesterday. At least 50 people are feared killed and more than a million marooned. Rain swollen rivers in the state have also affected six million people, officials said. The number of people affected is expected to rise sharply with more than 16 breaches in the river embankments.
State Relief Commissioner H. Panda has said at least 7,000 villages in 14 districts had been submerged. There are reports of widespread looting in the affected villages as hungry victims waded through the water hunting for food. Floods in Orissa’s coastal areas worsened yesterday after the release of water from the Hirakud Dam on the River Mahanadi following heavy overnight rains.
Fresh flooding triggered by the rains has caused Mahanadi and its tributaries to burst bank at several places, state additional revenue secretary D.G. Tripathy said yesterday.
Tripathy said water had to be released from the dam in the Sambalpur district, 336 km from Bhubaneswar, because it was nearing its maximum permissible limit of 630 feet.
Tens and thousands are struggling for relief in the districts of Cuttack, Puri, Jagatsinghpur and Jajpur even as army and police continue relief operations and food dropping. State capital Bhubaneswar and the districts of Cuttack, Gopalpur, Balesore, and Paradip experienced heavy rainfall on Tuesday and Wednesday, said M. Mohapatra, an official at the weather office in Bhubaneswar.
Diseases like malaria and diarrhea are sweeping through the affected areas and government is taking steps to prevent an epidemic, a Health Department official said.“We have sent medicines and required preventives worth of 19.3 million rupees to all 13 flood-affected coastal and western districts,” said M.M. Pradhan, surveillance medical officer of the state health control room.
Although media reports claimed that a number of flood-affected people had been admitted to government-run and private hospitals, Pradhan said this was not true.
“If an epidemic breaks out in any area then the district medical officials concerned are supposed to inform us. We had received information about an outbreak of diarrhea in a village in Khurda district, but, after verification, we found it untrue,” he said.
The government, which announced a red alert Monday, has evacuated thousands of people from the flood-hit areas. Army, police and state government officials are carrying out massive relief and rescue operations.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday and Wednesday made air surveillance of the affected areas. A high level ministerial team which arrived in Bhubneshwar under the leadership of Nitish Kumar yesterday said that the flood relief operations being conducted by the state government, police and the army is satisfactory.
The team made the statement after an aerial survey of the areas, devastated by floods due to incessant rains in the last 10 days. “I must express satisfactions about the relief and rescue operation launched by the state government,” Nitish told reporters. The team includes four other Union ministers and Cabinet Secretary T.R. Prasad.
