Villagers cross a broken embankment of Kushabhadra river near Gop village in Puri district. (PTI)

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 14: The state government today asked the Centre to send an inter-ministerial committee to Orissa to assess the loss caused by the flood that wreaked havoc in the state’s 19 districts.

According to latest reports available with the state government, over 20.71 lakh people living in 3,973 villages in 94 blocks of 19 districts have been affected by the flood. It has also claimed 22 lives.

Revenue minister Surya Narayan Patra said: “Today, we sent our report to the Union ministry of home affairs and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on the current flood situation.”

As the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) sought a report on the current flood status, the state government also sent a report to the PMO.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today reviewed the progress in relief and rescue operations. He directed the chief engineers of works and rural development departments to prepare a master plan on the roads damaged by the flood. He also directed officials to start repair of roads and breaches on a war-footing from Thursday.

Chief secretary Bijay Patnaik said: “The central team is expected to come to the state this month. We have, however, asked the district collectors to prepare a preliminary report on the loss caused by the flood. The report will be prepared after the water recedes.”

Water resources secretary Suresh Mohapatra said: “The flood situation in the state has improved. Inflow to the Hirakud reservoir has reduced by 1.12 lakh cusecs while an equal amount of water was released from there. Floodwater will recede from most areas within a day or two.”

Mohapatra also said that 49 breaches had so far been reported on various river embankments.

“Today, another breach was reported on the Ganguti river embankment in Badachana block in Jajpur district,” he said.

Incessant rainfall has made the lives of those living in tents on the river embankments miserable.

Four helicopters of the navy and air force had been pressed into service for airdropping food packets in the inaccessible pockets of Kendrapara, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Boudh and Nayagarh districts.

In the morning, the state government had to stop dropping of food packets from helicopters. The service was, however, resumed in the afternoon.

Special relief commissioner Pradeepta Kumar Mohapatra said: “We have many polythene sheets and will be reaching them to all the flood-hit people within a short time. Distribution of polythene sheets have already started and the district collectors have confirmed,” he said.

Mohapatra also said the additional polythene sheets had already been sent to Puri, Kendarpara, Baragarh, and Sonepur.

People in Gop, Kanasha and Delanga in Puri district and Mahakalpada and Garadpur, however, continue to have a hard time.

Kendrapara district was worst hit by the flood with over 4.45 lakh people in 415 villages affected by the deluge.

Patra had earlier said that IAS officer and former Kendrapara collector Hemanta Sharma had been deputed to the district to oversee the relief operation.

The state government today claimed that it had enough money to deal with the current situation.

“We have Rs 490 crore with us. The Centre also released Rs 154 crore last week,” said Mohapatra.

Three senior officers and 20 probationary officers of the Orissa Administrative Service have been deployed in Puri and Kendrapara districts, which were worst hit by the flood, to supervise the relief work at the ground level.