Flood to Orissa hit today, evacuation begins

Bhubaneshwar: A flood warning has been sounded in Orissa and across Gujarat. What could be Orissa's biggest floods in the last decade is heading to the state's coast on Friday morning. The reason - heavy rainfall in the upper catchment areas of River Mahanadi.

Hirakud dam in Sambalpur district is witnessing a heavy inflow and as a result more crest gates are now open. Almost 10 lakh people in Cuttack, Puri, Kendrapara and Jagatsighpur districts of coastal Orissa are likely to be affected by the flooding waters.

Orissa's Special Relief Commissioner, N K Sunderray says, "By Friday morning, 14 lakh cusec of water will cross Naraj barrage in Cuttack. It's a very big flood."

The district administration has ordered people staying in vulnerable areas to move to safer places. Power boats are being pressed into service to evacuate thousands of people. The Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force, fire brigade and the entire district administration are also being engaged in the process.

Two IAF helicopters are ready to start rescue and relief operations when ever required.

Sunderray says, "We have requested the people to take their valuables and dry food for three days and evacuate to the safer places as advised by the district administration. We are not giving anyone the leverage to argue on this matter and have made evacuation mandatory because we only have 24 hours with us."

The torrential rains that lashed the region for the past three days have already left at least four people dead.

GUJARAT FLOODED

The flood situation in Gujarat too is getting worse. People in at least 20 villages have been stranded for the fourth day running as the state received more heavy rainfall in the past 24 hours. Four deaths have been reported so far. The Army has been called in and over 3,000 people have been moved to safer places. Sundernagar district is the worst hit with the Surendranagar-Ahmedabad highway having to be closed on Thursday. Other flood hit areas include Bhavnagar, Junagarh, Amreli and some parts of Ahmedabad.