Bhubaneswar: Rejecting suggestions that reservoir mismanagement worsened the Ganjam floods, chief secretary Anu Garg on Wednesday defended Odisha govt’s handling of the disaster, attributing the devastation to “unprecedented rainfall”. Her remarks came amid former CM Naveen Patnaik’s allegation that the floods were “manmade” and former chief secretary Suresh Mohapatra’s contention that faulty water management aggravated the situation.Garg said Patrapur received 546 mm of rain in a single day, with 89 mm and 349 mm recorded the day before and the day after, respectively. Several other places in Ganjam also recorded their highest-ever rainfall, she added.“A central team has also observed that the rainfall was unprecedented. The rainfall after Cyclone Arnab was 65% higher than after Cyclone Phailin in 2013. While heavy rain during Phailin was largely concentrated over a day, it continued for three days this time,” ,” Garg said.However, acknowledging the losses suffered by people and damage to infrastructure, Garg said the govt’s priority was saving lives. “People suffered losses and infrastructure was damaged, but we were able to save lives,” she said.Explaining the role of the reservoirs, Garg said the Rushikulya and Bahuda river systems have a combined catchment of about 9,800 sq km, of which only around 880 sq km, or roughly 10%, drains into reservoirs. The remaining 90% flows directly into the rivers, she added.“Reservoir water was released in phases, as per prescribed protocol, following heavy inflows. Water had also been released earlier for irrigation. Dam safety is supreme,” the chief secretary said, adding discharge touched around 6,900 units at Purushottampur, nearly twice the river’s carrying capacity.Media coordinator of BJD, Lenin Mohanty, however, criticised Garg’s remarks and demanded action against water resources secretary Subha Sharma. He alleged that the govt failed to meet people’s expectations during successive floods and said the chief secretary should step down if she was unable to ascertain the reasons for the disaster.BJP spokesperson Anil Biswal hit back, accusing the BJD of politicising the floods. “The facts are before everyone. The govt has done its work well,” he said.The political row over the floods intensified after Naveen wrote a strongly worded letter to chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi, accusing the BJP govt of a lack of preparedness and mishandling rescue and relief operations.Odisha Congress president Bhakta Charan Das, on the other hand, blamed both the BJP and BJD for failing the flood-hit people.