Overall flood situation improving in Odisha; 5 gates of Hirakud dam open

Bhubaneswar: There has been a substantial improvement in the overall flood situation in several parts of Odisha even though cooked food is being provided to over 22,000 people in Bolangir and Sonepur districts through free kitchens. The water level of major rivers is also on a receding trend, informed deputy relief commissioner, Prabhat Mohapatra.

Three camps are also in operation at Puri, Khurda and Cuttack district where cooked food is being provided to nearly 580 persons. Similarly, free kitchens are also operating in Bolangir and Sonepur  districts where cooked food is being provided to 19,121 people and 3,981 people, respectively.

Mohapatra further informed that state average rainfall in the past 24 hours was 4.4 mm. While Kendrapara received 24.9 mm of rainfall, Balasore and Nayagarh district recorded 14.6 mm and 13 mm rainfall.

The Hirakud dam authorities today closed five gates of the dam keeping in view lack of rainfall in the upper catchment areas of Mahanadi basin. Earlier excess water from Hirakud dam was being released through 20 gates while 10 gates were closed yesterday.

“Today, five gates of the dam have been closed while the inflow and outflow from Hirakud is around 95,000 cusec. The present water level of the reservoir stands at 620.04 ft,” said secretary, water resources department, PK Jena.

Jena further informed that Hirakud dam chief engineer has been asked to take necessary steps for operating the gates of the dam to maintain a water level between 619 and 620 ft by August 21.