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Floods: Naveen undertakes aerial survey

- Photo AP

Marooned: A villager sits on a raft made of aluminum vessels to transport villagers on the outskirts of Balasore on Thursday.

BHUBANESWAR: Even as water level started receding in some major rivers, flood situation continued to be grim in the worst-hit Balasore district of Orissa on Thursday.

The flood has taken about 7.75 lakh people across five blocks of the district under its grip while about 6.21 lakh are said to be marooned by floodwaters. Revenue Control Room sources said 948 villages of Balasore are surrounded by water. However, there was no report of any additional casualty. Official death toll in the current flood is still two.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday made an aerial survey of Balasore district and reviewed relief and rescue operations being taken up on a war footing. As per the information released by the Chief Minister’s Office, eight powerboats were pressed into service in the district.

Besides, 205 country boats were making rounds on floodwater detecting people in distress and reaching out to marooned villagers with food and other essential items. Mr. Patnaik ordered despatch of 100 more country boats to the district.

More units of Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) would be sent to the flood-hit zones of Balasore. In the afternoon Indian Air Force helicopter started dropping food packets for the marooned villagers.

Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Manmohan Samal also accompanied the Chief Minister. They assessed the situation in flood areas of Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj district from the sky. In Mayurbhanj district, 50,000 people have been affected by the flood, which was caused by incessant rains due to a depression that formed over Bay of Bengal a couple of days ago.

Government officials were yet to touch all marooned villagers as several road communications had been cut off in the current flood.

Although, water was flowing over danger mark at Jamsolaghat and Rajghat on Subarnarekha River, water level was fast going down due to drop in rainfall intensity.

However, Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre on Thursday forecast that heavy rainfalls were likely to occur at isolated places over Subarnarekha and Budhabalanga catchments during the next 48 hours.

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