8 More Gates Of Hirakud Open In Odisha As Water Level Rises In Reservoir; No Rain Warning For 2 Days

Sambalpur: The Hirakud Dam authorities on Saturday opened eight more sluice gates of the reservoir in Odisha’s Sambalpur district to release excess floodwater amid a rise in its water level following heavy rain in upper catchment areas of the Mahanadi in Chhattisgarh.

With this, the excess floodwater is being released through a total of 20 sluice gates of Hirakud dam, officials said. While five sluice gates were opened earlier in the day, the dam authorities decided to open three more gates in the evening in view of rise in inflow of water.

The water level of Hirakud reservoir now stands at 621.06 ft against full capacity of 630 feet, while inflow is over 4.70 lakh cusec.  Over 2.23 lakh cusec of water is being released through 20 gates of the dam.

Similarly, the water flow in Mahanadi river at Khairmal stands at 3.40 lakh cusec, while discharge of flood water at Mundali in Cuttack was recorded at 4.50 lakh cusec.

A medium scale flood has already passed through the areas under Mahanadi river basin. The districts in the downstream of Hirakud dam were put on alert in view of the situation and the situation has now improved.

Several areas in Jagatsinghpur district still remain submerged with floodwater despite considerable improvement in the situation. Inundation of vase areas has caused extensive damage to standing crops in the district. Water Resources department personnel are engaged in plugging a breach in Paika river in Paradip area of the district.

In Bhadrak district, three panchayats have been cut off from the rest of the state for the last two days after a 40-foot  breach was developed in Salandi river near Talagopabindha Padasahi area.

Two breaches have also developed in Domani Mahara and Mankada Kola areas in the district, leaving many villages marooned. Work is on to repair the breaches, sources said

Notably, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued no more rain warning for Odisha for two days. Light to moderate rain or thundershower is likely at many places in North Interior Odisha and at a few places in remaining parts of the state on Saturday and Sunday.

Yellow warning of thunderstorm with lightning has been issued for one or two places in Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore on August 7.