Sambalpur: Around 6,000 people who had taken shelter in 34 relief camps in Sambalpur have started returning home with the weather improving.

There has almost been no rain during last 16 hours as a result which the flood water has receded.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik will review the flood situation at Jamadarpali airstrip with his officers on July 24 during a stopover on his way to Sonepur to attend Green Mahanadi plantation programme, Sambalpur MLA Raseswari Panigrahi has said.

The bodies of two person who had been washed away, have been found.

Tapaswini Nag, 26, of Bhoitikra village in Kalamati gram panchayat was washed away on Saturday night. She was escorting her 60-year-old mother Phultuli to a relief camp. She was trying to cross a water channel when she was washed away.

Her body was later fished out by the villagers.

Suresh Karam, 26, was washed away in the Surmali nulla on Saturday night. His body was recovered on Monday, additional district magistrate Ajay Kumar Jena told The Telegraph.

Each of the deceased family will get Rs 4 lakh as compensation from the state government. The residents of Sambalpur and its peripheral areas faced a lot of problems because of the heavy rain. More than 7,000 people were affected by floodwaters and about 6,000 took shelter in the relief camps set up by the district administration.

The well-prepared district administration, with active support of voluntary organisations and youth bodies, swung into action and rescued the marooned people. Dry food and cooked food were served to them at regular intervals. Biscuits and milk were served to children.

The district administration opened a control room in which collector Verma and MLA Sambalpur Raseswari Panigrahi took stock of the situation. They visited affected areas, relief camps and supervised the distribution of food materials. Medical teams also conducted health check-ups and provided medicines to the people suffering from cold and fever.

Panigrahi said the people have started leaving the camps after lunch on Monday.

Two lanes of the four-lane road between Sambalpur and Bargarh near Remed Chowk on the outskirts of the town remained closed following a landslide in the Laxmidungri hill.

The administration on Monday took the help of police force to relocate 13 families from the bank of Mahandi in the town.