Water-level of Mahanadi river rises, 44 sluice gates of Hirakud Dam opened

As the water level of swollen Mahanadi river rose menacingly creating flood situation in parts of Odisha on Saturday following heavy downpour in its upper catchment areas in Chhattisgarh, 44 sluice gates of the Hirakud Dam were opened, officials said.

Forty-four of the 64 sluice gates of the Hirakud Dam, built across the Mahanadi near Sambalpur in Odisha, have been opened by the authorities to discharge excess water from the reservoir.

"While 40 sluice gates of the dam were opened on Friday, four more gates were opened on Saturday morning following the huge flow of water into the reservoir," Hirakud Dam authorities said.

The water level at Hirakud Dam rose to 626.65 feet as against the full reservoir level of 630 feet, a senior official said. "Excess water is being discharged from the reservoir due to the huge inflow and rise in water level," he said.

After heavy rainfall in the upper catchment areas of the Mahanadi in neighbouring Chhattisgarh on Thursday, over 8.99 lakh cusec water is now entering the Hirakud reservoir while 7.28 lakh cusec is being discharged through 44 sluice gates of the dam, Chief Engineer of Water Resources department, Jyotirmaya Rath said.

As a result, the volume of water flowing through Khairmal has now increased to 10.02 lakh cusec, while the flow was 8.67 lakh cusec at Barmul and 9.25 lakh cusec at Munduli near Cuttack, he said.

Following discharge of huge volume of water from Hirakud dam, 10 to 10.5 lakh cusec of water is likely to flow through Munduli shortly which may trigger a medium level flood in the Mahanadi delta region, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), P K Jena said.

The flood situation in Mahanadi basin turned grim as the water level of the river, regarded as the largest river in Odisha, rose alarmingly and stood at 26.53 metre at Naraj near Cuttack as against the danger mark of 26.41 metre on Saturday morning, the office of the SRC said.

The flood in the Mahanadi river system is likely to affect coastal districts including Puri, Khurda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Nayagarh and parts of Kendrapara, Rath said.

However, the flood situation caused by rivers like Subarnarekha, Budhabalanga, Brahmani, Baitarani and Jalaka is gradually easing as the water level has started receding, the chief engineer said.

Though Brahmani river is flowing above the danger level at some places, the situation is likely to ease soon, he said.

Stating that several houses and standing crops have been damaged due to flood in these rivers, the SRC said the collectors of the affected districts have been asked to assess the extent of damage and send detailed reports at the earliest to facilitate payment of financial assistance to the affected.

Apprehending a medium level flood in Mahanadi system, the state government has already deployed adequate teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and Fire Service in the low-lying areas for carrying out rescue and relief operation wherever necessary, the SRC said. The government is fully prepared to deal with the situation, he said, adding that Collectors of all the districts in the Mahanadi delta region have been alerted to deal with the situation. The engineers of the Water Resources department, officials of district and block administration, subordinate officials and peoples representatives are keeping a close watch on the situation round-the-clock in Mahanadi delta system, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Birupa system, Daya- Bhargavi-Kushabhadra river system, Devi river system and Luna-Chitrotpala system, Jena said.

Meanwhile, backwater of Mahanadi inundated several low-lying areas of Sambalpur city. Water flowing over a bridge on the SambalpurSonepurState Highway-15, has disrupted communication on the road, a senior official said.

Similarly, the floodwater of Mahanadi submerged low- lying areas in several villages in Banki block in Cuttack district. Road communication between Banki and Kalapathara was affected as floodwater was flowing over a bridge.

Road connectivity between Baideswar and Karabara in Bhapur block in Nayagarh district was also disrupted due to submergence, he said adding many villages in Haripur panchayat in Khurda district were submerged with floodwater of Rajua river.

At least 12 people have so far been killed in rain- related incidents like wall collapse and drowning in the state, while 4,15,817 people in 10 districts are affected, a senior official said.

Formation of a low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal had triggered heavy downpour in Odisha since Monday. This was the fifth low-pressure area formed over the Bay of Bengal this month causing heavy rainfall in the state.

Meanwhile, senior IAS officers have been deputed to oversee flood management in different districts following the direction of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, an official said.

While Industries Secretary Hemant Sharma has been deployed to monitor the flood situation in Kendrapara, Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Secretary D K Singh will oversee the situation in Cuttack, Sports and Youth Services Secretary Vishal Dev for Balasore and Revenue and Disaster Management Secretary B P Sethi is deputed for Bhadrak.

Similarly, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Secretary V V Yadav is given charge of Jajpur and School and Mass Education Secretary Satyabrata Sahu for Jagatsinghpur, while Revenue Divisional Commissioner (Central Division) Anil Kumar Sahu will oversee the flood situation in Puri district, he said.