Mayurbhanj, one of the most affected district of Odisha. Due to severe cyclone storm "PHAILIN", cloud burst rainfall occurred in the catchment area of river Budhabalanga and its tributaries Katra and Palpala from 12.10.2013 to 13.10.2013 which caused heavy and unprecedented rains leading to flood. This was unprecedented in the history of Mayurbhanj District. The Average Annual RainFall is about 1648.2 MM, Where as it was recorded to the height of 305.44 MM at Balimundali on 13/10/2013 itself. • Highest level of 34.82m recorded at Astia (near Baripada) for Budhabalanga River, against danger level of 30.90m. • As a result low lying areas near Baripada town was submerged for 12 hours, along with Samakhunta, Bangirposi, Badsahi and Betnoti blocks. As a result of flash flood, water supply system was submerged; water supply was severely affected and hampered the water supply for two days. Due to disrupted power supply, the water pumps were not readily functional. It took 3 days to fully restore the water to households, till then drinking water through water tanker was supplied to the affected areas. huge amount of garbage, amounting to more than 700 tractor loads and still counting has been removed in a short span of 6 effective days and we have avoided the possibility of any epidemic. Approximately 1200 man days of labor and 200 tractor days and 35 JCB days were arranged and all the affected wards have been cleaned and we hope to hand over the town to municipality again in one or two days' time and the regular sanitation process could be resumed. A total of 155 teams are engaged in damage assessment accounting to 3375 VIllages so far out of 3984 villages. Due to all these steps taken, we have been able to clean the town in a very short span of time and remove all garbage. General public opinion is that town is cleaner than the pre-flood times and we are able to successfully avoid any epidemic from happening. Rehabilitation should go beyond just reconstructing whatever shelter there was before the floods, but also improve the flood resistance or disaster preparedness of the settlements in physical and socio-economic terms. The rehabilitation should lead to an improved disaster response mechanism at the community level.

• published: 30 Oct 2013
• views: 14