Bhubaneswar: To keep a check on the current flood situation, a few sluice gates of Hirakud dam are likely to be closed after 3 pm, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Jena said on Thursday.
Briefing the media here, he said that a decision in this regard will be taken after the review meeting at 3 pm.
“There has been no signification addition of water to the Mahanadi system following a decrease in rainfall in upper and lower catchments of the river. The inflow into Hirakud Dam has also come down to about 4.40 lakh cusecs against the outflow of 6.74 lakh cusecs. The water level at the reservoir stood at 624.43 ft at 12 noon and efforts are on to bring it down to 622 ft by tomorrow evening,” he said.
The SRC further informed that the flow of Mahanadi floodwaters at Mundali is slowly decreasing and stood at 10.26 lakh cusecs by 11 am. “We had expected it to fall below 10 lakh cusec by 9 am. Probably, floodwaters of rivers, which are in spate, below Khairmal are obstructing discharge of water,” he said.
Responding to the impact of heavy rain likely to be triggered by a fresh low pressure, Jena said they are expecting 40-50 mm rainfall under the influence of this system. “The low-pressure area is likely to concentrate into a deep depression. Light to moderate rainfall may lash coastal Odisha from today evening and continue till August 20. Similar weather conditions will prevail in north and western Odisha on August 20 and 21. Heavy rainfall is likely at isolated places,” he said.
In case of heavy rainfall, the inflow at Hirakud Dam will be around 5 to 5.5 lakh cusec on August 21. The reservoir level would be 621 feet so there will be space to balance the water level, he added.
The SRC said that around seven breaches have been reported in the Mahanadi river system. “No new breaches have been reported in the last 24 hours,” he said.
Efforts are underway to shift those stranded in floodwaters to shelter homes and they are being provided with relief materials. The collectors have been authorised to hire private boats to carry our relief and rescue operations, he said.
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