In view of the continuous rise of water level in major rivers in Odisha, as many as four National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been deployed in the State on Thursday to carry out the required rescue and relief operations in case of possible flood.
The teams, having 25 members each, have been allotted from Mundali centre following a request by the Odisha government. While a team has already been deployed in Bhadrak from Tuesday, other three teams have also reached Kendrapara, Cuttack and Puri today. Moreover, a rapid response team of NDRF has also been deployed in Balasore.
“More NDRF teams have also been kept ready at Mundali centre. If the situation demands, they will be pressed into the service immediately,” said an NDRF official.
Meanwhile, the authorities of Hirakud Dam have decided to open four more sluice gates to release the excess amount of rain water from the reservoir. Currently, water is being released from the reservoir through 24 sluice gates.
Also Read
While the inflow of water into the reservoir is currently at 4,35,794 cusec per second, the outflow is at 4,23,089 cusec per second. The water level in the dam stands at 628.39 feet against its full reservoir capacity of 630 feet.
According to the officials of the water resource department, 6.38 lakh cusec of water was flowing at Khairmal while its volume was 4.64 lakh cusec at Barmul and 5.96 lakh cusec at Mundali near Cuttack in the Mahanadi river system.
Notably, torrential rain, triggered by the deep depression over Bay of Bengal, in the upper catchment of Hirakud Dam in Sambalpur district and heavy inflow of water into the reservoir have triggered flood fear in the State.
(Edited by Rashmi Ranjan Mohanty)