With the water level in Mahanadi river rising after release of flood water from Hirakud Dam, Odisha government geared up and closely monitored the situation to deal with any possible flood in 11 districts in the river basin, officials said.
The present level in Hirakud dam is 622.71 feet against the full reservoir level of 630 feet. While the flow of water into the reservoir is 4.21.431 cusec, the outflow is 4,10,388 cusec, a dam official said.
Around 6.5 lakh cusec of water is now flowing through Mundali gauge station in Mahanadi near Cuttack after release of flood waters through 25 gates of Hirakud dam, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnupada Sethi said.
This has led to steady rise in the water level of Mahanadi as well as its tributaries in several areas, he said.
The dam authorities had on Tuesday opened 25 sluice gates following release of huge volumes of water in the river from neighbouring Chhattisgarh.
There is, however, no threat of any major flood despite the release of water from Hirakud and the situation is being monitored constantly, Sethi said.
We are maintaining a close watch on the situation. It is being monitored round-the-clock,” he said adding that the collectors of the 11 districts located in the Mahanadi river basin and other officials are keeping watch.
All preparations have been made. The state government has deployed rescue teams in the vulnerable areas and has already deployed the ODRAF, NDRF and fire service personnel for immediate rescue operation in Puri, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack and Bhadrak districts, Sethi said.
Meanwhile, the flood water of Mahanadi and Tel rivers have inundated several areas in Boudh district where a number of villages in Harabhanga block have been marooned and vast agricultural lands submerged, said an official.
The water level in Mahanadi river at Naraj near Cuttack has risen to 25.87 metre but it is much below the danger level of 26.41 metre, he said.
With the flood waters submerging several areas, road connectivity is affected in some places like Birmaharajpur in Sonepur and Purunamantri under Athamalik tehsil, officials said.
Several villages in Athagarh and Banki areas of Cuttack district have also been inundated after flood water of Mahanadi gushed into low-lying areas, they said.
