By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: The season’s first floodwater was on Monday released from the Hirakud Dam in Odisha’s Sambalpur. This was necessitated by the rise in the water-level in the reservoir due to the incessant rains in the upper catchment areas for the last few days.
.As per official sources, the excess water from the dam released through 7 sluice gates. There are 64 sluice gates including 24 on the right and 40 on the left side of the dam. Each sluice gate has the capacity to discharge 16,440 cusec of water when reservoir level, also termed as danger level, is 630 ft.
The gates of the dam opened at 11 am on Monday, the dam’s Chief Engineer said .
According to the Water Resources Department, the water level in the reservoir stood at 603.77 ft against the optimum level of 630 ft on Friday.
The dam authorities said that as the water-level of Mahanadi and its tributaries is expected to rise following the release of water from Hirakud, there is a need to create awareness among people so that they do not venture into these parts as a precautionary measure.
Meanwhile, the district administration alerted the people of Hirakud, Sambalpur and Burla area through loud speaker before the release of water.
Meanwhile, online review meeting on flood situation and stocktaking for all 11 river basins of the state by Mrs Anu Garg, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Water Resources in presence of EIC and CEs.
