Odisha Floods: Next Few Hours Crucial, Says Top Engineer

Bhubaneswar: The next few hours are crucial, when the flood situation in Odisha is likely to touch its peak level, Bijay Kumar Mishra, Engineer-in-Chief, state Water Resources Department, warned on Tuesday.

Mishra said that a decision on whether to open more sluice gates of the Hirakud dam would be taken on Tuesday afternoon.

The Hirakud dam authorities closed eight sluice gates on Monday out of 34, which had been opened in a phased manner to release excess floodwaters.

At present, excess water from the dam is being released through 26 gates — eight on right side and 18 on left side.

Mishra said that the water flow at Mundali was 11.6 lakh cusecs at 9 am on Tuesday. Another 10,000 to 20,000 cusecs of water is likely reach Mundali.

He said that the present situation in the Mahanadi was a moderate-level flood and not a minor one as they were expecting.

The water level at Hirakud dam at 9 am on Tuesday was 625.54 feet. The dam’s storage capacity is 630 cubic feet. While the inflow of water is 7.64 lakh cusecs, the outflow is 4.48 lakh cusecs.