Bhubaneswar: The housing and urban development department has come up with guidelines for residents to follow in order to stay safe if a locality is flooded.

This comes after the department asked the city authorities to do everything in their power to avoid urban flooding during the monsoon.

The urban development department has forwarded the 27-page guideline to Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and directed them to circulate the same among resident welfare associations and various communities. The guideline has major components for citizens to follow before, during and after a flood situation.

Before the floods, citizens have been asked not to pay attention to rumours and remain calm, keep their mobile phones charged and switched on, be aware of the routes to nearest safe shelters, listen to the radio or watch television for latest weather bulletins, stay in touch with local officials, keep strong ropes and battery-operated torches ready.

In the event of a flood, the citizens were advised to avoid entering flood waters, stay away from sewer lines, gutters or drains, electric poles and fallen power line, not to let children go hungry, use bleaching powder to disinfect the surroundings, eat dry or freshly cooked food and drink boiled water.

Similarly, after the floods, people have been asked not to leave the safe shelter until a declaration was made by the local authorities, allow children to play in the water, use damaged electric goods. They have been asked to watch out for broken electric poles, volunteer to help people in need and call emergency number for help among others.

"It is usual to be prepared to tackle general floods during monsoon. However, this is for the first time such a guideline has been issued for urban flooding. It is drafted by the National Disaster Management Authority, which was amended at our end keeping the local situation in mind," said a department official.

As part of the guidelines, the department has entrusted the local authorities with some additional work such as establishment of urban flood management cell, having in place a standard operating procedure keeping local needs in mind, conduct stakeholder workshops, awareness camps and installation of portable pumps among others.

"It is necessary to make people aware of what they should do to remain safe during a flood-like situation. People are aware of what to do in flood-prone areas, but when it happens in the urban areas, few know how to handle the situation. It is a good move of the city authorities to keep the people ready in this manner," said Old Town resident Biswas Jena.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said they had got the guideline and would now make efforts to dissimilate the same among the resident welfare associations and community level.

"We are almost done with our pre-monsoon preparedness activities. Now we will make attempts to make the people aware," said Jena.