Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Wednesday allayed any flood threat following the swelling of the Mahanadi.
“The flood situation is under control. We are closely monitoring the water level at Khairmal, Barmul and Mundali barrages. At present, about 6 lakh cusecs of water is passing through the Mundali barrage which will increase to 8.5 lakh cusecs of water per second by 8 pm tonight. Keeping the volume of the outflow of water to the lower catchments, the riverside district collectors have been directed to stay alert. Besides, the NDRF and ODRAF teams have been kept in readiness. The two teams are now deployed in Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack and Bhadrak districts. If necessary, steps would be taken to evacuate the people from the low-lying areas to safer places,” Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnjupada Sethi said told mediapersons here.
Asked about the steps taken by the state government to monitor the flood situation in Mahanadi, principal secretary, Water Resources, Pradip Jena said the inflow of Mahanadi water to the Hirakud dam is 4.58 lakh cusecs of water per second while the outflow from 25 gates is 4.08 lakh cusecs of water per second. Besides, the outflow of the floodwater from Khairmal barrage in Boudh district is 7.34 lakh cusecs of water per second.
Stating that about 8-8.25 lakh cusecs of water would pass through Mundali barrage tonight, he said there would be a gradual decrease in the volume of water from Friday morning, which will flow into the river bed and not spill over the river embankments.
The Hirakud dam authorities will not open more than 25 gates as the inflow of water to the Hirakud reservoir from Chhattisgarh has substantially come down, he added.
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