BHADRAK: The district administration is on its toes after Special Relief Commissioner issued a flood alert for Bhadrak on Tuesday. According to sources, heavy rain in the last 24 hours has left Salandi river in spate and the water was flowing close to the danger mark at Rajghat. Sources in Salandi canal division office said the water at Rajghat was flowing at 16.7 feet against the danger mark of 17 feet.
According to sources, the flood water washed away Ulanga-Govindapur road in Bhadrak block cutting off communication to five panchayats. On the other hand, low-lying areas of Bhadrak block and municipality and those in 30 villages in Tihidi block face the danger of inundation, official sources said.
According to District Emergency Office, four slipway gates of Hadagada reservoir were opened and over 35,000 cusec water has been discharged into Salandi river due to heavy rain in catchment areas in Keonjhar district during the last 48 hours.
Bhadrak has experienced 95.8 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours, said Rajendra Panda, District Emergency Officer.
Meanwhile, district Collector Gyanaranjan Das said, “Block and tehsil officials have been asked not to leave headquarters and keep a close watch on river embankments.”
Officials have also been alerted to keep relief materials and rescue boats ready, the Emergency officer said and added that ODRAF team is being engaged for the work.
99 mm rainfall in Koraput
Jeypore: Heavy rains across Koraput district for the last two days has thrown normal life out of gear. Around 99 mm rainfall has been recorded in the last 24 hours.
Although both hills and plains of the district have been witnessing mild to heavy rainfall for the last two months, the intensity of rains reached its peak in the second and third week of this month.
Due to heavy rain, people are preferring to stay indoors and markets wore a deserted look. Daily markets in Kotpad, Jeypore, Koraput and Sunabeda were not held on Tuesday.
‘Water released to maintain equilibrium’
Sambalpur: Following incessant rainfall in the upstream of Hirakud dam at Chhattisgarh for the last three days, the dam authorities on Tuesday opened 20 more sluice gates to release the flood water. Currently, flood water is being released through 25 sluice gates.
The water level in the reservoir stood at 621.89 feet against the full reservoir level (FRL) of 630 feet at 6 pm on Tuesday. Rainfall in the upstream during the last 24 hours was recorded at 34.25 mm while it was 2.1 mm downstream, sources said.
Chief Engineer and Basin Manager, Upper Mahanadi Basin, Burla, Jyotirmaya Rath said the authorities of Ravishankar dam over Mahanadi river besides two medium projects Sikasar and Sondur on the HDR upstream in Chhattisgarh have released water due to heavy rainfall on the upstream.
It will take 48 hours for the water, released from the dams in Chhattisgarh, to reach the reservoir. Hence, they have started releasing the water from it to maintain the equilibrium, he said. The 25 sluice gates will remain open on Wednesday also. However, the gates will be closed gradually after inflow of water to the reservoir starts declining, he said.