Bhubaneswar/Sambalpur: The flood situation in Odisha worsened on Friday after heavy inflow from the upper catchment areas of the Mahanadi in Chhattisgarh forced the Hirakud Dam authorities to discharge over 2 lakh cusecs of water through 14 gates.
Eight more gates of the reservoir is likely to be opened by Friday evening as inflow into the reservoir continues to rise.” The discharge will increase to approximately 3.5 lakh cusecs once 22 gates are opened,” Engineer-in-Chief Dillip Kumar Rout said.
He added the decision to open additional gates was due to the increasing inflow into the Hirakud reservoir. While the reservoir’s water level stood at 624.10 feet against its full reservoir level of 630 feet, the inflow was recorded at approximately 3.86 lakh cusecs at 9 am.
According to Rout, the Mahanadi is currently carrying 5.27 lakh cusecs of water at Khairmal. After the additional discharge from Hirakud reaches downstream, the flow at Khairmal is expected to rise to around 7.5 lakh cusecs.
He further stated that flood discharge at Mundali had peaked at 8.88 lakh cusecs on Thursday evening. The flow has since reduced to 8.65 lakh cusecs and is expected to fall below 7.5 lakh cusecs by Saturday morning. Water levels at Mundali near Cuttack are similarly expected to recede below 7 lakh cusecs by Saturday morning.
He also said floodwaters have entered the Daya and Kushabhadra rivers, and authorities are closely monitoring the situation.
Notably, the rising waters have caused several tributaries such as the Luna, Karandia, Chitrotpala, Paika, Salia, Devi, Kandala, Kuakhai, Kushabhadra, Daya and Bhargavi to overflow, affecting nearly seven lakh people across 20 districts.
Rout informed that seven embankment breaches have been reported due to the floods, and detailed reports have been sought from field officials. However, he clarified that no embankment breach has occurred in the Mahanadi river system. Repairs to the damaged embankments will be taken up after floodwaters recede, he added.
Meanwhile, the absence of rainfall over the past 24 hours in both Odisha and the upper catchment areas has brought some relief, though the state remains on high alert for the medium flood in the Mahanadi system.