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The flood situation in Orissa remained grim on Thursday with all the rivers in the Mahanadi system flowing above the danger level.
A top central delegation flew in on Thursday to take stock of the situation.
The central team is led by Union Minister for Agriculture Nitish Kumar, and comprises four Union ministers from Orissa, Cabinet Secretary T R Prasad and other senior officials
After an aerial survey, the team, which was accompanied by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, described the situation as "very bad".
The team will return to Delhi on Thursday night after holding discussions with Patnaik and other senior officials.
Meanwhile, the Centre, which had made an ad hoc sanction of Rs one billion to meet the flood situation, on Thursday informed the state government that it had wiped out the Rs 2.2 billion overdraft pending against the state.
An estimated five million people have been affected by the floods while another one million are still marooned in the districts of Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Jajpur, Nayagarh and Puri.
Heavy rains in the catchment of Mahanadi, downstream of the vital Hirakud Dam, had caused the Mahanadi to swell further.
The discharge from the Hirakud, where the water level touched 629 feet at one stage on Wednesday (the maximum reservoir level is 630 feet), had flooded several localities in the nearby Sambalpur city.
Official sources said the discharge from the dam had been reduced from 850,000 cusecs on Wednesday to 553,000 cusecs on Thursday morning, with only 33 sluices remaining open.
According to reports, about 10,000 panic-stricken people from the low-lying areas of Kendrapara had taken refuge on the express highway linking Daitari with Paradip port.
Large number of people from Tirtol, Ersama, Kujang areas of Jagatsinghpur, which were the worst-hit in the last super cyclone, had taken shelter on the Cuttack-Paradip highway and river embankments apprehending fresh inundation.
PTI
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