Bhubaneswar: The overall flood situation in Odisha has improved with a gradual fall in the water levels of major rivers.
The water level of Mahanadi has started receding due to lesser flow of floodwaters from the upper catchments due to scanty rainfall in Chhattisgarh in the past 48 hours.
By 9 am on Tuesday, the water level of the Hirakud dam was 625.79 feet as against the optimum level of 630 feet.
Due to the lesser inflow of floodwaters, the dam authorities have closed four more gates. At present, the inflow of the water into the dam is 4,37,643 cusecs per second while the outflow from 28 gates is 5,13,881 cusecs per second.
At the same time, the discharge of floodwaters at Khairmal, Barmul and Mundali has also receded.
The discharge of the floodwater at Khairmal, which was 7.10 lakh cusecs at 6 am on Tuesday, is now 6.94 lakh cusecs per second.
Similarly, the volume of water discharged at Barmul has come down to 7,75,500 cusecs from 8.03 lakh cusecs while at Mundali, the discharge has dropped to 9,79,715 cusecs from the earlier 10,02,823 cusecs.
Barring the water level of Mahanadi, which is flowing at a height of 26.92 metres against the danger mark of 26.41 meters, the water levels of Devi, Kushabhadra, Ib, Brahmani, Baitarani, Budhabalanga, Subarnarekha, Vanshadhara, Rushikulya and Jalaka are flowing below the danger level.
