Release Of Mahanadi Water From Hirakud Not Major Flood Threat: CWC

Sambalpur: While the Hirakud Dam authorities are all set to release the first floodwater of Mahanadi on Wednesday, the Central Water Commission (CWC) has said there will be normal flood in the lower catchments.

Talking to the mediapersons at the master control room of the dam on Tuesday afternoon, executive engineer, CWC, N Srinivas Rao said as per information he has received from the dam authorities, four sluice gates of the dam will be opened after 11 am to release approximately 60,000 cusecs of water per second.

Asked whether the release of floodwater from the dam will cause a flood situation in the lower catchments, Rao said there is no threat from any other tributary of Mahanadi except the Tel river, which is rising at an alarming rate. “As per data we have received from Kesinga, the release of floodwater from Tel river was about 5 lakh cusecs per second. By the time the floodwater of Tel reaches Tikarpada by 8 am on Wednesday, the inflow of water will be around 7 lakh cusecs per second,” Rao said.

Explaining that there will be normal flood situation in the downstream, Rao said by the time the floodwater of Hirakud dam reaches the Mundali barrage in Cuttack in a span of around 32-34 hours, the floodwater of Tel will have discharged from the barrage. Besides, as there is no rainfall in the downstream of Mahanadi in the last 24 hours, there will be a normal flood.

Meanwhile, dam authorities have warned the riverside districts and asked the people not to move inside the river bed and not to allow cattle near the river bank as the release of floodwater will suddenly raise the water level with a strong current.