...Necessitates redrawing of Cuttack flood map

CUTTACK: The severe magnitude of the floods in Cuttack district this year, though substantially lower volume of water flowed than the high floods of 2008,  has got the administration on its toes. It has started an elaborate exercise to redraw the Flood Map of the district and chart strategies for prevention and containment accordingly. A comprehensive study of the changing features of the water surge in the rivers, flowing through the district, would be undertaken by all the departments concerned and incorporated in the map. The primary objective is to use the map to devise effective management of the flood situation and ensure quick response and disaster control measures in the vulnerable areas. The floods, this year, have affected more than 5.21 lakh population in around 168 gram panchayats across all the 14 blocks of the district. Villages and areas that were previously not affected have also been hit. The situation is reported to be worse than in 2008, despite the fact that the flow of water in the rivers was around 14 lakh cusecs this year against around 16 lakh cusecs in the last high floods. Collector Girish SN said the map would be a convergence of identifying vulnerable areas and installing appropriate disaster preparedness and response mechanisms. For instance, the map would provide a definite knowledge of the vulnerable points where boats can be deployed to access the affected pockets in the quickest possible time. Bases for boats would be created on the basis of the map. “We are, in fact, trying to crystallize the experiences of this year’s floods to devise effective strategies. While doing so, we have also planned to form disaster response groups from among the community at the local level,” he said. Under the initiative, youth from the high flood point villages would be selected and provided with basic training in boat driving through ODRAF. Boats would be stationed in their region accordingly, so that they can operate during disaster situations immediately without waiting for deployment of official personnel.  The administration on Thursday held a meeting of the officials of irrigation, roads, health, electricity departments  to take stock of the situation and initiate post-flood reconstruction measures immediately.