Odisha flood situation unchanged; Hirakud closes 3 more gates

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Aug 9:

The flood situation in the Mahanadi river system in Odisha has remained unchanged.

Reports said that the flood waters of Mahanadi and its tributaries have inundated most parts in Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur and Puri districts.

In Jagatsinghpur districts, floodwater of Paika river entered eight panchayats following two breaches in the embankment at Kolero and Banesara last night. About 20,000 people in these panchayats have been affected.

Several village under Mahakalapada panchayat in neighbouring Kendrapara district have been surrounded by floodwater following a breach at the embankment of Luna river at Mahateragan village this morning.

Reports from Bhadrak said that the floodwater of Salandi was flowing above the danger level at 18.10 feet at Rajghat this morning. As a result, most areas of Bhadrak town and the low lying areas of the district have been surrounded by floodwater.

In Baleswar district, floodwater of Jalaka was flowing over the danger level at Mathani. As against the danger level of 5.5 metre, the floodwater flowing at a height of 5.6 metre.

Road communication between Sambalpur and Kunchina has been disrupted due to floodwater flowing three feet above Matamahula nullah bridge this morning.

Meanwhile, the Hirakud dam authorities this morning closed three more gates following inflow of less floodwater from upper catchments.

At present, floodwater is being released through 24 sluice gates of the reservoir.

The water level of the reservoir was 626.10 feet at 6 am today.

While 3,48,841 lakh cusecs of water per second was entering the reservoir, 4,06,018 cusecs of water per second was being released through 24 gates. Sources in the dam said that the authorities would close more gates in phases later in the day.

At Mundali barrage in Naraj, inflow of Mahanadi floodwater was 10.41 lakh cusecs per second. While 5.87 lakh cusecs per second was released from Jobra, 5.16 lakh cusecs Kathjodi river water was released from Naraj.

While the water level of Kathjodi has come down below the danger level, floodwater of Mahanadi was flowing above the danger level at Jobra, reports said.

The inflow of water would continue till afternoon, said Kamal Lochan Pradhan, junior engineer, Mundali barrage.