Flood victims take shelter on dry patch of land after water gushed into their houses in Dasarathpur. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 10: Flood-like situation prevailed as rain continued to lash many parts of the state today under the impact of a low pressure formed in the Bay of Bengal.

Thousands of people are still reeling from the floods and what has added to their woes is the slow discharge of water from river to the sea because of a full moon today.

“The discharge of water will be expedited after two days once the impact of full moon comes down,” said an official of the special relief commissioner’s office.

Major parts of the state, including Kanasha, Delanga in Puri district, Banki and Athgarh in Cuttack and Mashaghai and Garadpur in Kendrapara district are still inundated. A total of 603 boats have been deployed for relief and rescue operation. The death toll because of the floods has reached 45, a figure that matches the death toll due to Cyclone Phailin that struck the state last October. The livestock casualties stood at 97.

According to the special relief commissioner office, 5,312 villages across 1,381 gram panchayats and 134 blocks in the state have been hit by flood.

Around 4.87 lakh people in 460 villages are still marooned. The agricultural activities have also been badly affected as 3.22 lakh hectares of crop area have been affected. Though no major embankment breach on the Mahanadi river has taken place, 38 breaches have been reported in the river embankments of its distributaries.

Deputy relief commissioner Pravat Ranjan Mohapatra said: “Steps are being taken to provide food material to the people of the marooned areas. Now 168 free kitchens have been opened across the flood-hit areas. Cooked food has already been served to over 1.19lakh beneficiaries.”

Taking the plight of the people into account, the administration has opened up highest number of free kitchens with 51 in Puri district followed by 45 in Kendrapara district. Similar number of free kitchens has come up in Jagatsinghpur district.

The water level of Hirakud reservoir has come down to 622.54ft against its full reservoir capacity of 630ft. The state’s average rainfall reached 99.2 per cent.