Bhubaneswar: Incessant rainfall has triggered floods in two major rivers of Odisha — Subarnarekha and Baitarani — the Water Resources Department informed on Sunday.

Engineer-in-Chief Chandra Sekhar Padhi said that Subarnarekha has crossed the danger level, marking its fifth flood this monsoon. The river is now flowing 0.5 metre above the danger mark and may rise further to 11.4 metres by evening. In the Baitarani basin, 42.57 mm of rainfall was recorded in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, 35 mm rainfall was reported in the upper Brahmani basin, while the Mahanadi catchment recorded 31 mm.

At Hirakud dam, water level has risen to 621.65 ft due to continuous inflow from the Mahanadi’s upper catchment. With an inflow of 1.98 lakh cusecs and outflow of 1.60 lakh cusecs through eight gates, authorities opened four additional sluice gates today, releasing water through 12 gates in total. 

The official, however, clarified that no flood situation is anticipated in the Mahanadi River.

Three districts -- Balasore, Bhadrak, and Keonjhar -- are on alert, as several places in the districts are likely to be affected by floods in Subarnarekha and Baitarani rivers.