Baitarani In Spate: Floodwater Enters Villages In Bhadrak

Bhubaneswar: Several villages in Dhamnagar and Bhandaripokhari blocks of Odisha’s Bhadrak district have been marooned by the floodwater of Baitarani river.

According to reports, due to torrential rain in the upper catchments last week, the water level of Baitarani has crossed the danger level at Akhuapada. Till reports last came in, the floodwater was flowing at a height of 18.10 metres as against the danger level of 17.83 metres by 9 am on Sunday.

The floodwater has crossed over the Kantighai embankment and entered Maninathpur, Solampur, Biroli, Barahanuapada, Mudhapada and Rahania panchayats in Bhandaripokhari block and submerged vast stretch of paddy fields. The floodwater was flowing at a height of about four feet over the Sartanala bridge between Malada and Jajpur. As a result, road communication between Bhandaripokhari and Jajpur has been disrupted.

Besides, the floodwater has also entered four panchayats of Dhamnagar block through Gourangpur Escape and Mallikapur Escape and submerged hundreds of acres of paddy fields.

People of the flood-hit panchayats of these two blocks have alleged that the district administration has not taken any relief and rescue work since last 24 hours.

Besides Baitarani, the water level of its tributaries Kochila, Genguti and Reba-Kapali were also rising alarmingly.

It may be mentioned that due to heavy rainfall in Anandpur (171.6mm) in Keonjhar district in the last 24 hours, authorities of the Remal Dam on Kushabhadra river had opened six gates on Saturday resulting in the rise in the water level of Baitarani.

Meanwhile, the Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar, in a release on Sunday has sounded rain and thunderstorm alert for the five districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Jajpur and advised people to remain indoors till 11.30 am.

On the other hand, the Hirakud dam authorities on Sunday closed five more gates of the dam due to drastic fall in the water inflow to the reservoir from the upper catchments. At present, water is released through five gates.