Flood threat in Odisha diminishes as Mahanadi water level

The flood threat in Odisha diminished today as the Mahanadi river water level dropped as Hirakud Dam authorities released less water today, an official said.

The state government had earlier warned about a possible minor-to-medium flood in 11 districts in Mahanadi river basin but the situation has eased and flood threat has diminished substantially, a senior official said.

The Hirakud dam authorities discharged water from 25 sluice gates yesterday while today they released water from 15 gates of the reservoir, an official in the Special Relief Commissioner's office said.

A little over six lakh cusec of water is now flowing through Mundali gauge station in Mahanadi near Cuttack, as against over 6.5 lakh cusec yesterday after release of flood waters of Hirakud dam, he said.

The water level in Mahanadi river at Naraj near Cuttack came down to 25.56 metre from 25.87 metre which was below the danger level of 26.41 metre, he said.

The present water level in Hirakud dam is 623.41 feet against the full reservoir level of 630 feet. While the flow of water into the reservoir is 2,84,491 cusec, the outflow is 2,51,281 cusec, a dam official said.

Rainfall in upper catchment areas of Mahanadi river had also subsided and flow of water from neighbouring Chhattisgarh had fallen, leading to considerable improvement in the situation in Odisha, sources said.

The state government was closely monitoring the situation to deal with any possible flood in 11 districts in Mahanadi river basin.

Meanwhile, water had also receded from submerged low-lying areas in Sonepur, Boudh, Angul and Cuttack districts, sources said.

The Meteorological Centre in the meantime said that heavy rainfall is likely to occur at some places over Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Angul, Deogarh, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi and Nabarangur districts in next 24 hours.