Thousands marooned in Odisha as Mahanadi basin floods due to heavy rain

Thousands of people were marooned across Odisha as the Mahanadi river basin flooded August 16, 2022, after six days of relentless rain in the catchment areas of Chhattisgarh, besides high water inflow in the Hirakud reservoir.

The Mahanadi and its tributaries had swelled in Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Deogarh, Bargarh, Angul, Boudh, Subarnapur, Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Cuttack, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts August 16, according to government officials.

The river breached its embankments at eight places in coastal Kendrapara and Jajpur districts. Incessant rain has also completely paralysed life in the two districts’ low-lying areas.

The district administration of Kendrapara assessed the impact of flooding due to incessant rains in an emergency meeting, even as swirling waters threatened to swallow more villages in vulnerable parts. 

“The district administration has stocked rice, flattened rice, molasses, kerosene and other items in all the Gram Panchayat offices and in the block headquarters to provide help to affected people,” Premalata Bahalia, district emergency officer, told this reporter.

“All government officials of the district have been directed by the administration to not leave their respective headquarters without informing the authorities,” Bahalia added.

“As the water rose in the river today (August 16), many people left their houses for safer places. The river embankments at many places are on the verge of collapse,” Prafulla Nayak of Patarapur village under Pattamundai block in Kendrapara district, said.

“Hundreds of men, red-eyed due to lack of sleep in the last two days, stood on watch at the river embankments to protect their villages from the onslaught of the gushing floodwaters,” Nayak added.

Upstream, 12 villages in the Banki subdivision of Cuttack district have been cut off.

The collector of Sambalpur visited various flood shelters, waterlogged areas and pumping stations at Binakhandi and Balibandha to take stock of the situation. Dewatering pumps have also been installed in all affected areas.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik August 16 reviewed the situation and directed the collectors of all flood-hit districts to remain alert.

Patnaik directed officials to follow the state’s policy of ‘every life is precious’ while dealing with all possible disasters. He also directed the district collectors to carry out necessary evacuation of people from vulnerable areas to safer places on a priority basis.

“The water level of the Hirakud dam at 9 am August 16 was 625.54 feet, against its storage capacity of 630 feet. The inflow of water stood at 7.64 lakh cusecs while outflow was 4.48 lakh cusecs,” Bijay Kumar Mishra, engineer-in-chief of Odisha’s water resources department, said.

Eight gates of Hirakud were opened August 15. Mishra added that the Odisha government had decided August 16 to release excess flood water by opening more gates of the Hirakud dam.

“The decision was made following a meeting with the technical committee,” Mishra said.

Five gates were opened August 16 afternoon. “Around 40 gates of Hirakud will be opened on the night of August 16. This is being done as the India Meteorological Department has predicted more rainfall,” Ananda Chandra Sahu, the dam’s chief engineer, said.

The government will pay compensation to affected people, PK Jena, the special relief commissioner, Government of Odisha, said.

He added that according to the Odisha Relief Code, ‘heavy rain’ would mean three days or more of uninterrupted rainfall, the total amounting to at least three times that of the month’s average rainfall.  

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