BHUBANESWAR: Flooding triggered by Cyclone Arnab has severely affected nine districts of Odisha, with more than 300 villages hit in Ganjam and over 700 villages in Gajapati, The Daily Jagran reported, citing officials. The state government deployed 313 teams from disaster management agencies on Thursday for relief and rescue operations.

Source: The Daily Jagran (ANI)

So far, 59,028 people have been evacuated to safer locations, including 11,882 from Ganjam district, officials said. The evacuated people include 3,001 pregnant women, Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said, according to reports carrying the official briefing.

59,028People evacuated in Odisha
313Rescue teams deployed
9Districts affected
36Trains cancelled on Howrah-Chennai route

313 teams at work, Ganjam has the largest deployment

Pujari said nine teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), 60 teams of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and 244 teams of the Fire Services Department have been deployed. Ganjam has the highest deployment, with 45 ODRAF teams and seven NDRF teams, while Gajapati has 12 ODRAF teams and one NDRF team, he said.

Chief Secretary Anu Garg said around 300 villages in Ganjam district were affected by floods, with 70 of them marooned, and the government has started airlifting 2,328 people from the cut-off villages. In Gajapati, 711 villages have been affected and rescue teams have shifted 17,441 people to safer places, she said, according to reports of the official briefing.

Source: Daily8 (official briefing)

Highway washed away, landslides halt traffic

Heavy rainfall triggered a major landslide at Taptapani Ghat on the Gajapati-Ganjam border, bringing vehicular traffic to a complete halt. National Highway 326 suffered extensive damage near Ledbandh in Mohana, Gajapati district, where officials said around 300 metres of the road was washed away, disrupting traffic on the key route connecting Brahmapur (Berhampur) with southern Odisha.

In Gajapati, continuous rainfall since Wednesday has triggered a flood-like situation in the Mahendratanaya River basin, while the water level of the Bahuda River, which flows along the Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border, rose above the danger mark. The other affected districts are Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Nuapada and Kandhamal.

Rail services were also hit: 36 trains on the Howrah-Chennai route were cancelled, 30 were diverted and the timings of eight trains were changed, reports said. Anganwadi centres and educational institutes in Ganjam and Gajapati will remain closed till October 31.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday assured assistance to the states affected by Cyclone Arnab, saying the NDRF and State Disaster Response Forces were carrying out rescue and relief operations.

In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, according to PTI, an 11-year-old boy died after a wall collapsed in Guntur district on Wednesday night, taking the death toll from cyclone-related incidents in that state to seven.

Patrapur in Ganjam recorded 546 mm of rainfall in 24 hours, among the highest figures reported from the state during this spell, as rivers continued to rise above danger levels in parts of southern Odisha, reports said.

Source: Daily Kiran