Heavy Rainfall In Upper Catchments Triggers Flood Threat In Odisha’s Mahanadi

Bhubaneswar: Following incessant and heavy rainfall in the upper catchments in Chhattisgarh, flood situation looms large in lower catchments of Mahanadi in Odisha.

According to data available with the Central Water Commission (CWC), the water level of Hirakud dam in Sambalpur was 621.56 feet, against the optimum level of 630 feet, by 3 am on Thursday.

While the inflow of floodwaters into the reservoir was 5,24,281 lakh cusecs per second, the outflow through 16 gates of the dam was 2,48,119 lakh cusecs per second.

Due to the release of floodwaters from the dam, water level of the river in lower catchments has gone up with the discharge of 6,83,500 lakh cusecs per second at Barmul, 5.02 lakh cusecs at Khairmal and 7,60,262 lakh cusecs at Mundali.

The water level of Mahanadi at Naraj during the period was flowing at a height of 26.20 metres, against the danger level of 26/41 metres.

As the dam authorities decided to open four more gates later in the day to maintain the water level of the reservoir as per the Rule Curve, more water will be released in the lower catchment within 24 hours.