IMD forecasts wet spell in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast a wet spell from Wednesday even as villages in several districts remained affected by floods, officials said. Several people were still in relief camps in Jajpur, Bhadrak and Jagatsinghpur districts as floodwaters were yet to recede from their villages, even as many rivers recorded a decline in the water levels.

People of Jajpur’s Dasarathpur, Bhadrak’s Basudevpur and Kujang and Tirtol areas of Jagatsinghpur were unable to return to their villages as the roads remained submerged, the officials said. The IMD said the rain spell will begin on August 5 and continue till August 10. While the weather office noted that the entire State will receive rainfall for five consecutive days from August 5, it issued an ‘orange warning’ (prepared to take action) of heavy to very heavy rainfall in Mayurbhanj on Wednesday.

An orange warning has been issued for Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar on August 6 as well, it said. The IMD said heavy rainfall may also occur at one or two places in Sundaragada, Sambalpur, Kendujhar, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Kandhamala, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri, Gajapati, Ganjam and Nayagada districts.

Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Anu Garg, in a meeting with secretaries of various departments, asked them to focus on restoration and rehabilitation operations. “The departments were asked to immediately repair the river embankments breached during the floods and provide adequate relief materials to people, including fodder for domestic animals,” Garg told reporters after the meeting.

With no significant rainfall in the past three-four days in both Odisha and Chhattisgarh, the water levels in the upper catchment area of Mahanadi and other rivers have declined. “However, one cannot say what will happen next week as the IMD has forecast another spell of rain across the State,” a senior official at the Water Resources department said.

As the inflow of rainwater to Hirakud reservoir reduced, the dam authorities have closed nine sluice gates and floodwater is now being discharged through 13 gates, an official said. The water level in Hirakud reservoir currently stands at 618.71 feet and the dam is receiving an inflow of 90,731 cusecs, while 2,38,508 cusecs of water is being discharged, he said. The dam authorities are closely monitoring the situation and the discharge is being regulated based on the inflow and downstream rain conditions.