Sambalpur/ Bhubaneswar: Five more sluice gates of Hirakud Dam were opened Wednesday, in addition to the 15 spillways opened a day before, to release excess water into river Mahanadi, an official said.
Heavy rainfall in Odisha over the past week had led to a rise in water level in the dam. After draining out 2.5 lakh cusecs of floodwater through 15 sluice gates Tuesday, the authorities decided to open five more spillways around 2am Wednesday in view of the full moon July 27, said Jyotirmaya Rath, chief engineer of Hirakud Dam.
“As full moon leads to swelling of seas, water from the reservoir cannot be effectively drained into the river during that period. Keeping that in mind, we decided to open five more gates after midnight,” he said
The season’s first floodwater, released around 12 noon Tuesday, was expected to reach Mundali near Cuttack this evening, he said, adding the level at the reservoir has come down to 615.41 feet at 12 noon Wednesday from 616.31 feet around 6 am, Rath said.
Meanwhile, sources in the Special Relief Commissioner’s office said about 3.31 lakh people in 1,146 villages of 20 districts have been affected in last week’s rain and floods.
A preliminary assessment indicates that 7,772 houses have been partially or fully damaged in the floods, said SRC BP Sethi.
“The district officials are running 23 free kitchens for the flood-affected population in Sambalpur district, one of the worst-affected areas in western Odisha. Apart from that, emergency assistance is also being provided to people living in the low-lying areas of the district,” he said.
Sources in the Met department Wednesday said the state has recorded just 1.4mm average rainfall in the past 24 hours.
“Altogether, 21 districts have received little showers since Tuesday. Malkangiri is south Odisha received the maximum rainfall of 16.3 mm. Nine districts, including Bolangir, Boudh, Dhenkanal, Kandhamal, Kendrapara and Puri, have not received any rainfall in 24 hours,” he added.
PNN