BHUBANESWAR: With the upper catchment areas in Chhattisgarh experiencing heavy rains for the last 48 hours and around 3.5 lakh cusec of water entering Hirakud reservoir per second, a medium flood looms large in Mahanadi river system.
The Odisha government, which had been ruling out floods in the State, on Wednesday, September 15, 2021, said a low or medium flood is expected in the Mahanadi delta region. Though the inflow of water from Tel river to Mahanadi has come down, more water is now entering Hirakud dam from Chhattisgarh. The dam authorities have already opened 20 gates to release the floodwater and more gates are likely to be opened to maintain the water level at 628 ft level if heavy rainfall continues in the upper catchments. The dam’s water level was 628.33 ft against the optimum level of 630 ft and the outflow was 3.19 lakh cusec.
Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Jena said the inflow of water to Hirakud reservoir has increased substantially following heavy rainfall in Chhattisgarh. “While 4.9 lakh cusec of water is being discharged at Khairmal, 5.34 lakh cusec at Barmul and 6.43 lakh cusec at Mundali, a low or medium flood is expected in Mahanadi system. The districts along both sides of the river have been asked to keep a close watch on the embankments,” he said.
The lower catchment of Mahanadi basin will face a medium flood only if more than seven lakh cusec of water is discharged at Mundali. Considering the present inflow and outflow, the water discharged from the dam on Wednesday is likely to reach Mundali on Thursday. As per preliminary assessment, 23.82 lakh people in 4,964 villages under 139 blocks and 33 urban local bodies of 24 districts have been affected in heavy rains in the last three days.
So far, 3,839 houses have been damaged and crops in 1.3 lakh hectare submerged. “Breaches in Brahmani embankment have been reported at three places in Jajpur district and another in Kusumi rivulet at Jaripada in Khurda district. Besides, 193 roads were submerged and several culverts damaged. The districts have been asked to submit the flood damage report by September 22 evening,” he added.
Meanwhile, the death toll due to heavy rains rose to four and two others were missing. Two persons in Kendrapara and one in Ganjam were killed in wall collapse while another died of drowning in Khurda.
In the last 24 hours, the highest 125 mm rainfall was recorded at Ghatagaon in Keonjhar district followed by 122 mm at Bhograi in Balasore, 118 mm at Sabdega in Sundargarh, 116 mm at Sundargarh Sadar and 107 mm at Kakatpur.Though Baitarai, Brahmani, Subarnarekha, Budhabalanga and Mahanadi rivers are in spate, the floodwater was flowing below the danger level.