Over 20k houses, 2 lakh hectares of crops damaged
Bhubaneswar: Stating that utmost priority is being given to restore normalcy in the cyclone and flood-affected areas, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnupada Sethi Monday said the situation is fast normalising in the three affected districts – Ganjam, Gajapati and Rayagada.
Speaking to the media here, Sethi said that excluding Malkangiri and Gajapati districts, there has been no rainfall in anywhere else in the state during the last 24 hours.
“The water level in almost all rivers is below the danger mark and the flood situation has improved to a large extent. In Aska, water and electricity supplies have been restored.
Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) teams are helping the SOUTHCO staff in cutting uprooted trees to restore communication. The situation in Purushottampur block has also been restored to normal, he said.
About 57,08,000 people have been affected due to the natural disaster in 16 districts – Gajapati, Ganjam, Rayagada, Puri, Kandhamal, Kendrapada, Keonjhar, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Nayagarh, Balasore, Mayurbhanj and Angul.
Sathi said 3,60,353 persons were evacuated and sheltered in 1,614 relief centres, of which 8,889 persons were still at 41 relief centers Monday. As per preliminary estimate, the SRC said 20,113 houses were damaged and 2,34,207 hectares of crop area were also destroyed. The government has engaged 62 water tankers in the three worst-hit districts.
Gajapati district: Fire Service, Odisha Forest Development Corporation (OFDC) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team are engaged in cutting of trees for clearing roads. Besides, six rescue teams comprising 30 personnel with six boats are in operation in the district. The government has sent 500 packets of chuda and gur to Badagarh, Gangabada GP of Rayagada block. While 29 medical relief centers opened, 21mobile medical teams have also been deployed in the district. Water supply has been restored in 40 per cent area using power generator sets.
Ganjam district: As many as 2,92,647 people were evacuated and sheltered in 1,043 shelters. The government has opened 145 medical relief centres, while 50 fire teams are engaged in rescue operations and another 150 fire personnel with 25 power boats have been deployed in different places for rescue operations. Besides, 22 mobile veterinary units have been mobilised to organise veterinary health camps.
Rayagada district: Fire Service teams are deployed in the affected areas to clear the roads. The state has opened five medical relief centres and four mobile medical teams have been deployed.