Bhubaneswar: The authorities of Hirakud Dam opened three more sluice gates on Saturday to release excess water from the reservoir in Odisha’s Sambalpur.
With this, the excess water from the reservoir is currently being discharged through a total of ten sluice gates of the dam. While seven sluice gates have been opened on the left side, three others are kept open on the right side of the dam, sources said.
The dam authorities decided to open sluice gates following rise in the water level in the reservoir because of heavy rain in the upper catchment areas of Mahanadi river.
As per reports, the water level of the reservoir stood at 629.65 feet against the full capacity of 630 feet, while the average inflow was around 1,16,088 cusec.
Discharge of flood water in Mahanadi at Mundali in Cuttack has been recorded at 1,58,060 cusec, they said.
The water level of the reservoir had almost touched 630 feet on Friday while water was released through seven gates.
As per the prediction, the lower Mahanadi basin will receive rainfall up to 37 mm on October 1 and it will go up to around 50 mm on October 2. Considering the situation, the dam authorities are taking necessary steps to make space to handle the large inflow of flood water that might come due to heavy rainfall.
The IMD has forecast isolated very heavy rainfall over Odisha on October 1 and 2 under the influence of a low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal.
