Sambalpur: The Hirakud dam authorities Thursday closed two sluice gates out of 14 through which excess floodwater from the reservoir was being released.
With the reservoir getting less flow of water due to scanty rainfall in the upper catchment areas of Mahanadi River, the dam authorities decided to close two gates.
As of now, excess water is being released through 12 sluice gates.
According to a dam official, the inflow to the reservoir stands at 1,00,799 cusec and outflow around 2,00,000 cusec.
Notably, the season’s first floodwater from the reservoir was released July 11. Then, the inflow and outflow of water was 64,409 cusec and 23,584 cusec respectively. The water level at the dam stood at 609.27 ft against the full reservoir level (FRL) of 630 ft.
The multi-purpose dam’s reservoir has 64 sluice gates: 24 on its right side and 40 on the left. A sluice gate is capable to discharge 16,440 cusec of floodwater when FRL reaches 630ft, which has been marked as the ‘danger level’.
PNN