TV
Despite heavy rainfall in the upper catchment areas, Odisha is currently not facing any flood situation in major rivers, informed Chandra Sekhar Padhi, Engineer in Chief Engineer of the Water Resources Department on Sunday.
Speaking to media, the senior official stated that while there has been significant rainfall in the upper basin of the Mahanadi River, the lower basin remains unaffected. Subsequently, no flood situation has been reported in the downstream areas of either the Mahanadi or the Brahmani rivers.
To manage the rising water levels, 12 sluice gates of the Hirakud Dam will be opened in a phased manner today to discharge around 2 lakh cusecs of water. The water level at Hirakud stands at 609 ft, which is within the safe limits. Officials have assured that even if there is more inflow from Chhattisgarh, there will be no major issues in downstream areas of Odisha.
Meanwhile, one gate has also been opened at the Rengali Dam, but no alarming rise in the Brahmani river has been observed so far.
However, caution has been advised in low-lying regions near Rajghat in Balasore district, where the Subarnarekha River is flowing below the danger mark but remains under close watch.
“One gate of the Rengali dam was opened yesterday. Today, another gate was opened at around 10.30 am following rain in the upper catchment areas. Similarly, the upper catchment areas of Mahanadi received heavy rainfall yesterday. We will open 12 gates of Hirakud dam in phased manner,” Padhi said.
