Cuttack: The first floodwaters of Mahanadi will reach Mundali barrage on the outskirts of Cuttack city on Saturday evening.
The Mundali barrage authorities told the media that the floodwaters were released from 10 gates of Hirakud dam on Thursday (June 25).
Five more gates of the dam will open on Saturday and the fresh floodwaters will reach the city outskirts in the next 48 hours, they added.
“About 1.5 lakh cusecs of floodwaters are expected to arrive here this (Saturday) evening. As the present discharge of water from the barrage is 71,600 cusecs per second, there is no need to panic as the barrage has a maximum discharge capacity of 12 lakh cusecs per second,” an official said.
He further said that though the water level of the barrage will go up with the arrival of the floodwaters released from the five gates of the Hirakud dam on Saturday, the level will not cross the danger mark of the barrage as the floodwaters carried by the Mahanadi tributaries will reach after two days.
Besides, there is scanty rainfall in the upper catchments of Mahanadi in the last 24 hours. However, the exact volume of water received by the barrage will be known only after the arrival of the floodwaters, he added.
