Bhubaneswar, August 19: Due to heavy rainfall in the Jharkhand catchment, Galudihi barrage discharged a peak release of 6616 cumecs water into Subarnarekha river. This will lead to a flood in the downstream in Baleshwar district in the evening hours today, said an official release.

The fresh alert came at a time when the State is grappling with its second spell of flooding in a month, with Odisha receiving around 1,100 mm of rainfall since June, 34 per cent above normal and the highest in 25 years.

According to the release, the water level will cross danger level of 10.36 metre at Rajghat and likely to reach 11.40 metre in late night today.

Residents of low-lying areas in Baleshwar district are living in fear as the water level in Subarnarekha continues to rise due to incessant rains in the river’s upper catchment areas in Jharkhand over the past 72 hours.

“A low moderate flood is likely over in Subaranrekha river. It will affected Baleshwar district. Water level will rise tonight. Baleshwar, Jajpur, and Bhadrak district administrations have been alerted. In other districts, the situation is improving,” said Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari.

On Tuesday, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi announced a Rs 1,000 crore relief package for flood-affected areas and said free kitchens would continue to serve people evacuated from inundated regions until the situation improves.

The Chief Minister on Tuesday also reviewed the situation in Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Kendrapara, where the latest spell has affected nearly 9.4 lakh people.