Bhubaneswar: Patrapur in Ganjam recorded 546 mm of rain in 24 hours. Chief Secretary Anu Garg put it plainly: that is more than the annual average rainfall for the area.
On Friday, the Odisha government scaled up rescue and relief across Ganjam and Gajapati. Government data shows 299 villages in 22 blocks of Ganjam and 711 villages in seven blocks of Gajapati affected, taking the count past a thousand across the two districts.
Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said 313 teams are deployed statewide: nine from the National Disaster Response Force, 60 from the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force and 244 from the Fire Services Department. More than 100 of them are working in Ganjam and Gajapati.
So far 59,028 people have been moved to safety, including 11,882 from Ganjam, and 3,001 of those evacuated are pregnant women.
The Rushikulya did the worst damage. At Purushottampur the river was flowing at 19 metres against a danger mark of 17. A 30-foot breach opened near Achhuli, a bridge near Patashala was washed away, and Dasamaili village in Dharakote block sat under nearly 10 feet of water. Sorada, Aska, Bhanjanagar and Purushottampur were among the hardest hit.
The current was strong enough that NDRF and ODRAF teams could not enter several areas, which is why the Indian Coast Guard was called in. A Coast Guard helicopter evacuated six stranded people from Dharakote on Thursday and kept flying sorties. Ganjam Collector V Keerthi Vasan said food packets will be air-dropped at 21 identified locations that cannot be reached any other way.
Transport has been hit hard. With tracks submerged on the east coast route, 36 trains were cancelled and about 30 diverted. Floodwater from the Bahuda river is flowing over National Highway 16 near Ichhapuram on the Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border, and around 300 metres of NH-326 has been washed away in Mohana block of Gajapati district.
Schools, colleges and anganwadi centres in Ganjam stay shut until October 31.
In Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said a preliminary assessment puts losses at about Rs 4,600 crore, after an aerial survey of the Krishna and Godavari regions.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to the chief ministers of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry and assured them of assistance, saying inter-ministerial central teams will be sent to assess the damage. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi also conducted an aerial survey.