SAMBALPUR: The authorities of Hirakud Dam released the season's first floodwater from five gates on Monday. The floodwater was released from three gates on the left and two on the right at 11 am.
Chief Engineer, Upper Mahanadi Basin Ananda Chandra Sahu said at the time of opening of the gates, water level in Hirakud Dam Reservoir was 613.71 ft. It will take 36 hours for the released water to reach Mundali. "There is no possibility of flooding on the downstream. As per the current inflow, we will keep the five gates open," he said.
While the upstream of the dam received 19.69 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours, the downstream recorded 17.85 mm rain during the period. Official sources said the water level of Hirakud Dam stood at 613.27 ft against the full reservoir level of 630 ft at 6 pm on Monday.
Similarly, the inflow of water into the reservoir was 1,08,515 cusec and outflow was 1,16,541 cusec including 75,660 cusec released through the spillway, 36,495 cusec to power channel, 4,113 cusec for irrigation and 273 cusec for industries at 6 pm on the day.
Last year, the authorities had released the first floodwater from the dam on July 11.There are 98 gates to release floodwater from Hirakud Dam. While 64 are sluice gates, the rest 34 are crest gates.
Each sluice gate has the capacity to discharge 16,440 cusec of water when the reservoir level is at 630 ft, which is also termed as the danger level. Similarly, each crest gate has the potential to discharge 16,238 cusec of water at 630 ft.