As many as 16 persons have died due to flood-related incidents in Odisha while over eight lakh people have been affected, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Kumar Jena said on Saturday.He said that 16 persons have died due to wall collapse and drowning, while five livestock have died in flood-related incidents."As per the preliminary estimation, as many as eight lakh people and over 3 lakh livestock have been affected and 2-3 lakh hectares of farmland have been submerged. Besides, 8,000 houses have been damaged," said Jena.He said a detailed damage assessment will be carried out at a later phase.Flood like situations have emerged in several rivers of the state, including Subarnarekha, Budhabalanga, Baitarani, Brahmani and Jalaka.However, the water levels are receding in the rivers and the situation is improving, said Jena.Around 610 villages have been affected in Bhadrak district where more than 4,000 people have been evacuated to the shelters.
In Jajpur district, 560 villages have been affected and more than 50,000 people have been evacuated and are in shelters due to floods in Brahmani and Baitarani rivers.Twenty-six breaches in embankments have been reported in Jajpur district, said Jena.Due to heavy rainfall on the upper catchment area of Mahanadi river system, there has been an inflow of around 9 lakh cusec of water into the Hirakud Dam."About 8.95 lakh cusec of water is entering into the reservoir, while 7.62 lakh cusec of water is being discharged into the river through 46 sluice gates of the dam. Around 10 lakh to 10.50 lakh cusec of water is expected to pass at Mundali on tomorrow morning," said Jena."We are keeping a close watch on the possible flood situation following the heavy water flow in several districts, including Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and Puri," he added.He said the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and fire service teams have been deployed in the flood affected areas.