A boat carries relief materials through the floodwater in Kendrapara. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 7: Though a major flood in the Mahanadi river system has been averted, water from the Hirakud reservoir today inundated vast areas of Cuttack, Puri, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts.

Sources said the discharge from Hirakud having been controlled, 11.05 lakh cusecs of water per second passed through the Mundali barrage at Cuttack last night against a prediction of over 12 lakh cusecs per second. Thus the impact on Mahanadi’s deltaic region, chiefly the coastal districts, was less than what was expected.

The major threat having passed, 10 of the 50 gates of the Hirakud reservoir opened yesterday have been closed. Currently, the reservoir was taking in 6.70 lakh cusec of water per second and releasing the same. It’s water level stood at 627.85ft against the full reservoir capacity of 630ft.

Water resources secretary Suresh Mohapatra said: “There is no threat of a major flood. We will be closing more gates of the reservoir in the next 24 hours. Since there are no more rains in the upper catchment area of the Mahanadi, the situation should improve further.”

On the ground, however, there was little respite for the people inhabiting the coast. While Banki and Athgarh in Cuttack were still reeling from floods, Mahanadi distributaries such as Luna, Chitrotpala and Paika inundated parts of Kendrapara district, including Marshagahi, Gardapur, Rajkanika.

In Puri district, Pipilli, Nimapara and Kanasa blocks have been worst affected. While the situation in districts such as Jajpur, Bhadrak and Keonjhar still remains critical, the Khurda- Balangir road has been cut off.

Official sources said nearly 17.88 lakh people in 23 districts of the state have been affected by the calamity with the death toll rising to 35. A total of 69,000 people have been evacuated from the danger zone so far. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today made an aerial survey of the flood hit areas of Jajpur, Puri, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Cuttack districts. “The situation is improving and normalcy is expected to return soon,” the chief minister told reporters following the survey.

Special relief commissioner has been asked to open free kitchens for people in the flood-affected areas. The kitchens will run for a week. The move is significant as a low-pressure system forming in the Bay of Bengal was likely to cause widespread rains in the state on August 10 and August 11 further compounding the miseries of people living in the lower reaches of Mahanadi delta.Though rivers such as Brahmani, Baitarani and Salandi were receding, there was little relief for people in Jajpur, Bhadrak, Keonjhar districts. In Jajpur, the worst-affected areas included Dasrathpur, Korei and Bari.

“There was a breach in Brahmani embankment on Wednesday and water rushed into our village. Unfortunately no government help has reached us,” said Siva Prasad Jena of Matiapada.

Similarly, Salila Das of Chandanpur village has taken shelter on the roof of her house alongwith family members and neighbours since Wednesday. She, too, complained against government indifference.

“We neither have food nor drinking water,” she said, while a pregnant woman in the village cried for medical attention.

Some political leaders have decided to launch relief and rescue operations on their own. Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Jaydev Jena and party’s Raj Nagar MLA Ansuman Mohanty visited the flood-affected areas of Anandpur and Raj Nagar, respectively, and accused the government of neglecting the affected people. On the other hand, BJD’s high-profile MP Baijayant Panda made an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas of Kendrapara district and air-dropped relief material in the affected belt.

On its part, the state government claimed to have opened 243 relief camps and reached out to 73,561 flood-affected through its free kitchens.