A flood-damaged bridge over river Budha. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 23: The flood situation in northern districts has turned grim as major rivers flowing through the region have wreaked havoc. Vast areas of Jajpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Balasore and Mayurbhanj were submerged because of high flood in Brahmani, Baitarini, Budha Balang and Subarnarekha rivers. Most of the rivers were flowing above the danger level.

“Jajpur town has been cut off as two spans of high-level bridge built over Budha river have been washed away,” said special relief commissioner Pradeepta Mohapatra.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik took stock of the situation and asked the administration to provide relief to the flood-hit people for seven days.

The chief minister has directed to depute three senior officials to the worst-hit Jajpur, Bhadrak and Kendrapara districts to monitor relief and rescue operations.

Reports from Jajpur said that the flood situation had deteriorated today with several breaches in Brahmani, Baitarani, Budha and Kharasrota rivers submerging more areas in Korei, Jajpur, Dasarathapur, Binjharpur and Bari blocks in the district. The rivers have breached their banks in as many as 14 places there in the last 24 hours, inundating 372 villages and forcing people living in low-lying areas to flee to safer places.

As per the latest report, about four lakh people spread over five blocks have been severely affected by the flood.

The current flood, being the third one in the district in recent times, is worse than the earlier two successive floods that took place last week, officials said.

Jajpur collector Anil Kumar Samal said: “We have ordered closure of all schools in the flood-affected areas of the district to provide accommodation to flood victims. We have also sent Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force teams to rescue people who are trapped in the floodwater.”

In Balasore district, flash floods in Budha, Subarnarekha, Kansabansa and Sono have wreaked havoc. Khaira, Simulia, Soro and Oupada blocks faced tough situations because of floods in Kansabansa river, while Nilgiri area was inundated by flood water of Sono.