Bhubaneswar : The flood situation in southern Odisha, particularly in Koraput and Malkangiri, has worsened due to continuous heavy rainfall.
In response, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, after consultations with Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujhari, has appointed three senior officials to closely monitor the evolving crisis.
Sundhansu Sarangi, Director General of Police (Fire Services), Bishnupada Sethi, Secretary of the Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department, and Charan Meena, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Southern Division), have been tasked with overseeing and aiding the district administration in Malkangiri.
The Special Relief Commissioner DK Singh said Malkangiri continued to receive widespread rain on Monday.
According to the office of SRC, the highest rainfall of 253 mm was recorded in Malkangiri Block while three blocks such as Malkangiri, Chitrakonda and Khairput had recorded more than 200 mm of rainfall.
Six blocks of Malkangiri and Kotaput district received over 100 mm of rainfall. Water was overflowing all the bridges in between Pangam and Motu Road of Malkangiri.
Six teams of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) were deployed in Malkangiri while two ODRAF teams were involved in the rescue operation. Above 60 villagers including two farmers were rescued while some were stranded atop the roof in the Poteru area of Malkangiri.
More than 1700 people were evacuated from low lying areas to various shelter centers. As per the SRC, 560 villages were affected in Malkangiri and Koraput districts.
Heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely to occur in a few places and extremely heavy rainfall in isolated places may occur in Ganjam, Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Khordha, Bolangir, Boudh Koraput, Nabarangapur and Puri. A red alert warning has been issued for these districts by IMD.