Medium To Large Scale Flood Likely In Mahanadi, May Hit These Districts

Bhubaneswar: Even has rainfall activity has lessened in Odisha, a medium to large scale flood threat still looms large on several districts of the State in view of continuous surge in the water level in major rivers.

Chief engineer of State water resources department, Jyotirmaya Rath on Friday predicted a moderate to severe flood in Mahanadi due to extremely heavy rainfall in Chhattisgarh, the originating place of the State's largest river under the impact of well-marked low pressure.

“Heavy rain continues to occur in upper catchments of Mahanadi in Chhattisgarh. About 200 mm rainfall was recorded in the upper catchments till today morning. Currently 5 lakh cusec of water is entering Hirakud reservoir from Kalma and 2.5 lakh cusec from Eb and Veden. The water level in Hirakud now remained at 625 feet,” Rath told OTV.

He said 6 lakh cusec of water is being discharged from Hirakud dam. In total, 36 gates will be opened to discharge the excess water from the reservoir.

Besides Hirakud, water from Tel, Suktel and Jira rivers will also enter Mahanadi. It will take 36 hours to reach Hirakud waters to reach Munduli. The water flow at Munduli at that time will be 10 to 10.5 lakh cusec per second, he said.

Rath further said, “If the water flow is above 10 lakh cusec per second, it is termed as moderate to severe flood. It is likely to have an impact Cuttack, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts.”

Due to the rainfall, water level in major rivers of the State such as Mahanadi, Brahmani and Subarnarekha has increased. The water in Brahmani is flowing above danger mark. Ten breaches were created in Bari area of Brahmani, Ratha said.

The chief engineer said though the water level in Baitarani is not increasing, it is flowing above danger mark. The rainwater from Baitarani created breaches in Dattapur of Jajpur.

The water level in Subarbarekha is also increasing. While the danger mark 10.3, it may increase to 11.2. However, the water level of Budhabalanga is decreasing, he added.

As per information by the Central Water Commission, Subarnarekha at Jamsholaghat & Mathani, Baitarani at Akhuapada & Brahmani at Jenapur continues to flow in severe situation.

(Edited By Suryakant Jena)

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