Hirakud dam water release may trigger minor flood in Mahanadi basin: Officials

Bhubaneswar: Continuous release of water from the Hirakud reservoir may trigger a minor flood in the Mahanadi river basin by Sunday evening, officials said. Official sources said 24 gates of the reservoir were opened to release floodwaters on Saturday following heavy rainfall in the upper catchment areas. Other major rivers are flowing below their danger levels except for the Jalaka in Balasore, which is also receding.Mahanadi's flow at Mundali is expected to peak at around 5.5 lakh cusecs by 6pm on Sunday, leading to a minor flood in low-lying areas. Engineer-in-chief of the water resources department, Chandrasekhar Padhi, said while the flood situation is under control, people living in vulnerable pockets should remain alert. "A large quantity of water entered the Mahanadi basin due to heavy rain in its upper catchment areas, for which 24 gates of Hirakud dam were opened. With no major rain and as the inflow of water has gone down substantially, four gates will be closed. Due to the opening of 24 gates, the highest flow of 5.5 lakh cusecs will pass Mundali by Sunday evening, which may cause minor flooding. But there is no threat of a major flood," he said.At 9am on Saturday, the level of Hirakud reservoir was 624.35ft against the full capacity of 630ft. Around 4.21 lakh cusecs of water were being released from the dam, officials said. Downstream, the discharge at Mundali stood at 3.57 lakh cusecs, 5.38 lakh cusecs at Khairmal, and 4 lakh cusecs at Barmul on Saturday.Water levels in other major rivers, including Baitarani, Brahmani, Subarnarekha, Budhabalanga, Rushikulya and Vansadhara, remained below their danger levels, except for the Jalaka in Balasore district, which has been showing a receding trend. No significant rainfall was recorded in the past 24 hours, bringing some relief."Among the eight major reservoirs, the level of one is below 50%, while three of them are between 75% and 100%, which is quite satisfactory," said Padhi.