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Odisha CM Tours Flood Zones as 1 Lakh Move to Relief Camps

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Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi surveyed flood-hit districts as over 1 lakh people moved to 500+ relief camps amid heavy rain across 13 districts.

Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi surveyed rain-battered parts of the state on Sunday, carrying out an aerial inspection and visiting affected areas in Koraput. He ordered officials to speed up help for displaced families and ensure they receive everything they need without hold-ups.

More than one lakh people have been shifted out of low-lying zones and housed in over 500 relief centres, officials said. The evacuations followed a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal that dumped very heavy rain across the state, triggering floods and waterlogging in 13 districts spanning southern, coastal and western Odisha.

Balasore was the worst hit. The district alone moved 67,266 residents to shelters, with the deluge touching more than 3.5 lakh people there. Elsewhere, Ganjam, Gajapati, Malkangiri, Koraput and Nabarangpur took the brunt of the downpour, while swelling rivers later spread the flooding into Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Mayurbhanj in the state's north.

Majhi visited a relief camp at Chandili School in Koraput, where he checked the meals being handed out and talked with residents, local leaders and officials. "To ensure that food, purified drinking water, emergency medical services and other essential assistance reach the affected people without delay, instructions have been issued to the administration to further expedite the relief efforts," he wrote in a social media post. He said he had walked through affected pockets of Koraput and heard directly from people about their hardships.

The chief minister then led a review meeting in Jeypore covering the situation in Koraput, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur. Officials there weighed the spread of the flooding, the state of rescue and relief work, conditions at shelters and the damage left by the rain.

Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said families in the shelters would get food, rations, clothing and other basics for 15 days. The meeting also pushed for advance compensation to be paid to those hit, in line with existing rules. Officials were told to clear standing water from farmland. "A technical team will be deployed to assess water drainage and suggest measures to enable farmers to resume cultivation once the water recedes," Pujari said.

Hirakud gates open, Mahanadi swells

A fresh worry emerged along the Mahanadi after excess water was let out of the Hirakud reservoir, which had filled up as heavy rain lashed its upper catchment in Chhattisgarh. Authorities opened 28 gates of the Hirakud Dam to release water. The reservoir stood at 628.35 feet, just short of its full level of 630 feet.

Water Resources Department Chief Engineer Dilip Kumar Rout said roughly seven lakh cusecs would travel down the Mahanadi and reach Mundali near Cuttack by Sunday night. That flow could climb to eight lakh cusecs by Monday morning. He said the surge was likely to raise at least 10 of the river's tributaries and could flood parts of Cuttack, Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara.

A minor flood alert was issued for the Mahanadi, with possible inundation across five delta districts. "A minor flood will continue in the Mahanadi for 24 to 48 hours and may cause inundation in the five districts in the delta region," Rout said. Water had already entered several areas of Banki, Athagarh and Badamba in Cuttack district.

Rivers cross danger marks in the north

In Balasore, the Subarnarekha was measured at 11.20 metres at Rajghat in Jaleswar at 7 pm, well above its danger mark of 10.36 metres. The overflow swamped villages across the Bhograi, Jaleswar, Baliapal and Basta blocks. The Budhabalang stayed under its danger level, though smaller streams including the Kansabansa, Soa and Gangahar were running high.

Nabarangpur reported flooding and waterlogging across several gram panchayats, while nonstop rain in Malkangiri pushed up river and reservoir levels and cut off roads in several places. Jajpur and Bhadrak also logged severe flooding.

In Mayurbhanj, officials temporarily shut Devkund, a tourist spot inside Similipal National Park, after streams and water channels around it rose sharply.

Odisha floods, Mohan Charan Majhi, Hirakud Dam, Mahanadi river, relief camps, Balasore flood, Bay of Bengal depression, Odisha rainfall

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