BHUBANESWAR: The apprehension of flood in Mahanadi river system subsided with rain tapering off both in Odisha as well as in neighbouring Chhattisgarh on Wednesday.
Though Hirakud Dam authorities have planned to discharge the first batch of flood water by opening sluice gates on Thursday morning, it is unlikely to pose any threat, the Special Relief Commissioner’s (SRC’s) office said.
Heavy rain on Sunday and Monday in the upstream had led to a rise in water level in Hirakud Dam. On Wednesday evening, the reservoir level stood at 612.15 ft against full capacity of 630 ft.
The inflow to the dam was 5.53 lakh cusec and to maintain the balance, the outflow was maintained at 23,803 cusec through power channel and canals. When the gates are opened on Thursday, the outflow is expected to cross two lakh cusec but that will not trigger any flood because the current discharge in the river is way too low.
With just about six lakh cusec passing through Khairmal in the evening, the water will have passed by the time Hirakud discharge starts. “We are expecting about seven lakh cusec at Mundali on Thursday which is not a cause of concern,” said the SRC office. As there is no rain in Chhattisgarh, the inflow to Hirakud will drop over the next 24 hours and so will the discharge.
Meanwhile, the flash-floods in rivers Baitarani and Hati affected about two lakh people in Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Mayurbhanj and Bargarh districts. The total casualty, so far, is five with a fresh death reported from Bargarh where a person died of wall collapse.
Parts of Balasore district are also expecting flash floods in Subarnarekha with Jharkhand releasing two lakh cusec water from Chandili dam.