Official sources said at least 100 bodies have been recovered so far from several places but because access to the ravaged areas is still impossible, it's extremely difficult to put even a rough figure to the toll. Right through the day, officials were giving ``estimates,'' ranging from 600 to even 50,000.

What was a little clearer today was the extent of the damage: Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Cuttack and parts of Khurda districts are the worst hit, while there's major damage in 10 districts with tidal waves washing entire villages away.

Until this morning, the state was cut off from the rest of the world, phones are down following the failure of the microwave link at Cuttack. Low-lying areas there are still submerged. The Sriram Chandra Bhanja Medical College and Hospital,the state's premier hospital, is functioning without electricity for the third day running -- and there's no generator even for the the emergency ward. The death toll in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar has crossed 200.

One of the worst affected areas is the Sakhigopal block with 50 Gram Panchayats, all under four feet of water. Sources said about 1.25 lakh people of the 350 villages here have been affected: Over 8,000 houses have been destroyed and 20,000 damaged. Countless cattle have been washed away. Most school buildings in the block have collapsed and the paddy fields remain submerged. Agriculture office sources said about 7,700 hectares of paddy fields and 100 hectares of vegetable gardens have been destroyed.Victims allege that even after 72 hours, relief is yet to reach them. And that no Government official has visited them yet.

The Navy and the Air Force intensified operations today lifting food, medical supplies and restoration equipment from different parts of the country and flying these toBhubaneshwar.

The Navy opened the navigation channel to the Paradip port to transfer critical stores. After a seven-hour survey, Naval ship Nirupak declared one channel safe.

Five other ships, loaded with over 150 tonnes of rations, medicine, potable water packets and generators, reached Paradip and two ships entered the Paradip harbour this afternoon. ``There were about 1,500 hungry people there. They were quickly fed and provided fresh water from the ships,'' a Naval spokesman said.

The Army said that 6,000 people were rescued and evacuated to safer places today. Army columns cleared the road up to Bhubaneswar from Sambhalpur, Chilka and Cuttack. The important Paradip-Cuttack road is still to be cleared. A field ambulance unit with a surgeon and anaesthetist began functioning in Bhubaneswar.

Two Naval medical and diving teams landed at Paradip and Naval helicopters began operations to drop food and water packets. The Navy has also moved two additional Dornier aircraft, aviation fuel and morehelicopters at Bhubaneshwar.

Three IL-76 aircraft reached Orissa with relief supplies this morning. ``And by evening we had flown in more than 150 tonnes of supplies including 100 tonnes of heavy engineering equipment from Jodhpur, Chandigarh, and Adampur. An AN-32 aircraft flew in medical supplies from Calcutta and Hyderabad. Apart from this, 11 doctors and 10 engineers (to restore power lines) were flown in along with heavy generators from Jamshedpur and Calcutta,'' an IAF spokesman said. The IL-76 also helped reopen the aircraft carrying bulldozers and other earth-moving equipment.

The spokesman said that with the complete collapse of power lines, heavy generators were needed to cool the ammonia plant and several 75 KVA generators had been airlifted for Bhubaneshwar.

With roads still submerged in water, more than 250 motorised rubber boats are being flown in from Mumbai. An Air Force aircraft is also on standby in Vishakhapatnam to fly in additional naval divers to participate in relief andrescue.

Meanwhile, both Navy and Air Force helicopters were dropping food and water packets to marooned people since morning. The IAF for the first time pressed the world's largest helicopters, the Mi-26, into operations. ``Food and water packets have been dropped east, north-east and north of Bhubaneshwar and in Paradip including in Nimapara, Balanta, Rajnagar, Naali, Jagpur, Bhaspur, Makatpara, Bhadrapur, Balasore, Jagatpur, Erasava and Balpatna areas,'' he added.

Additional Army personnel were also pumped into Bhubaneshwar with equipment to fan out and meet the troops trying to come in. Clearing the roads from two sides would result in faster restoration of the road channel. The Navy has deployed another ship Ghariyal off the port of Paradip. The ship, according to the naval spokesman, is equipped to function as an off-shore command and control unit with adequate medical equipment, doctors, nursing staff and diving team.

``Naval medical teams and supplies are also stationed at Chilka for onwarddistribution. More than 152 metric tonnes of dry rations is being distributed. INS Rajput, Savitri and Ghorpad sailed from Vishakhapatnam with 15,000 additional packets of potable water, 250 LPG cylinders and additional medical personnel,'' Commander Rajiv Chandoke said.