At least four persons were killed in separate incidents of wall collapse following heavy floods in Odisha, an official said here on Saturday.
Addressing the media, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Kumar Jena said that two persons were killed in Mayurbhanj district while two incidents were reported from Balasore and Keonjhar districts.
According to the latest government report, over seven lakh people of 13 districts have been affected by the floods.
Cooked food is being served to one lakh people across 248 relief camps as nearly 4,000 houses have been damaged.
According to Jena, the deep depression has caused heavy rainfall in districts like Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Balasore and Kandhamal.
While three blocks of Balasore have received over 200 mm rainfall, 16 blocks of Mayurbhanj have received more than 100 mm rainfall followed by 50 to 100 mm rainfall in five blocks of Keonjhar, Jena said.
Bhogorai in Balasore has received the highest amount of rainfall (226 mm), followed by Kandhamal’s Phiringia (211 mm) and Mayurbhanj’s Nawana (196.4 mm) between Friday 8.30 p.m. and Saturday 8.30 a.m.
Heavy rains have also pounded Jharkhand following which, seven gates of Galudih barrage were opened. Currently, 1.50L cusec water is being released through the barrage.
The water may reach Odisha but there is no fear of flood-like situation in the Budhabalanga river system, Jena said.
Still, the administration has put the Subarnarekha and Budhabalanga rivers under close monitoring for the next 30 hours.
As per Jena, water level has started to recede in the Mahanadi river, coming down to 8.35 lakh cusecs at Mundali barrage near Cuttack.
Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that the deep depression lies centred at about 150 km west of Jamshedpur, 70 km southwest of Ranchi in Jharkhand and 120 km northeast of Odisha in Jharsuguda.
It will move west-northwestwards across Jharkhand and north Chhattisgarh towards north Madhya Pradesh during the next 24 hours and weaken gradually.