Bhubaneswar: While several parts of Odisha have been affected by flood, five more gates of the Hirakud Dam in Sambalpur district will be opened today, informed Bhakta Ranjan Mohanty, Engineer-in-chief, Water Resource Department.
The floodwater will be released through total 12 sluice gates (Left 7 and Right 5) today with opening of 10 gates during the day.
In the morning, two gates of the dam were opened to discharge the water. With increase of water level in the reservoir, the authorities decided to open five more gates during afternoon. Again, decision was made to open five additional number of sluice gates to release excess floodwater from the dam.
The decision has been taken in view of the heavy rainfall in upper catchment areas in Chhattisgarh and subsequent rise in water level of the reservoir.
At 9 am, the water level of the dam stood at 615.52 feet against full capacity of 630 feet while flood water was being discharged through two gates.
The water inflow was recorded at 4.77 lakh cusec and outflow at 68.91 thousand cusec.
Once released from freshly-opened gates, the flood water will take around 12 hours to reach Khairamal, said Mohanty.
The Mahanadi river basin in Odisha has overflowed, leaving thousands of people marooned. The relentless rainfall in the upper catchment areas over the past few days caused the Mahanadi and its distributaries to swell, resulting in the inundation of numerous villages in Banki and Athagarh.
Additionally, regions in Nayagarh, Boudh, and Sonepur were also heavily waterlogged. The situation remains critical, with predictions that the flood water will affect more low-lying villages in Puri, Kendrapara, and Jagatsinghpur.