Flood situation in Odisha turns grim, 30 gates of Hirakud dam opened

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Aug 6:

The flood situation in Odisha has become more severe as the water level of all major rivers crossed the danger mark following heavy rains in the upper and lower catchments.

Reports from Sambalpur said that the Hirakud dam authorities opened six more gates this morning to release excess floodwater of Mahanadi from the reservoir.

“With this, a total 30 gates of the dam are now open”, said Biswajit Mohanty, chief engineer, Hirakud dam told reporters at Burla today.

He said the water level of the dam has touched 628 feet by 9 AM against its optimum capacity of 630 feet.

“With 5 lakh cusecs of water per second being released from these 30 gates at present, we have calculated that around 6 lakh cusecs of water per second would enter the reservoir. Keeping this in view, we have decided to open 10 more gates by noon to release around 6 lakh cusecs per second, and open more gates in phases to regulate excess floodwater to keep the water level of the reservoir below its optimum capacity”, Mohanty said.

Stating that the dam authorities have informed the authorities of the lower catchments about opening of more gates, he said the water inflow at Mundali by 9 AM was 9.57 lakh cusecs per second that would increase to around 12.5 lakh cusecs per second by midnight.

Meanwhile, reports from Jajpur said that the floodwater of Brahmani river made a 50-feet breach in the embankment at Matiapada village of Bari block this morning. The floodwater is expected to enter three panchayats along the embankment.