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Two helicopters engaged in relief operation

— Photo: Ashoke Chakrabarty

NO LET-UP: Bhubaneswar witnesses a spell of torrential rain even as northern Orissa is still struggling with pre-monsoon flood.

BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa government on Saturday claimed to have engaged two helicopters in its attempt to intensify relief and rescue operation even as marooned villagers were again panicked by reports of possibility of another low-pressure area over Bay of Bengal on June 26.

Briefing media persons here, Manmohan Samal of Revenue and Disaster Management said the administration was using trains as well as trucks for bulk supply of relief material to the flood-hit district of Balasore.

“We have already despatched 19,240 food packets to affected areas while 14 trucks with relief material and 10,000 more food packets are being sent to Balasore district,” Mr. Samal said.

To combat diseases apprehended to spread in post-flood periods, 98 medical camps have been set up in flood-hit districts and 42 mobile health units were pressed into service.

Meanwhile, the State government claimed that although more than 10 lakh population across 1,475 villages in five districts were affected by the recent flood, there was no report of diarrhoea cases while 79 dysentery patients could be detected.

As far as damage to major infrastructure was concerned about 248 different road of length of 609 km had been damaged by the floodwater. Moreover, four bridges were washed away in the current flood.

According to initial estimation, the cost of restoring the communication along the roads would be Rs. 8.26 crore, Mr. Samal said.

Even as the State government kept on presenting figures on rescue and relief operations to media here, reports from Balasore district said there had been several pockets which had been left untouched by government machineries with relief material after four days of flood. Several villages were still marooned by floodwaters.

Vernacular newspapers on Saturday reported that there could be another low pressure area over Bay of Bengal that triggered panic among people who were yet to recover from the trauma.

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