BHUBANESWAR:
Odisha government on Tuesday issued flood alert in
Mahanadi River system following heavy rainfall in upper catchments of the river in
Chhattisgarh. Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi has asked the district collectors in the Mahanadi system to remain alert and take precautionary measures as Hirakud dam would open 25 gates on Tuesday afternoon and release about 4 lakh cusec of flood water.
“In the wake of heavy rainfall in upper catchment areas of the Mahanadi 25 gates of Hirakud dam will be opened so that water level in the reservoir will be in manageable position,” said Sethi.
Sambalpur Collector has been asked to take precautionary action to evacuate people from low lying areas of the town as may be required. Similarly collectors of several districts along in Mahanadi system including Sonepur, Boudh, Angul, Khurda,
Cuttack, Puri, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada have been asked to remain in full alert for a flood flow. They have been asked to ensure safety of people in the low lying areas and river banks.
“Around eight lakh cusec water will release at Munduli barrage on Thursday morning. But we are hopeful that this water will not cause any major flood situation in these districts,” the SRC added.
To meet any eventuality NDRF, ODRAF and fire services personnel have been kept in readiness. Besides, Executive Engineers of Department of Water Resources (DoWR) have also been alerted for appropriate action.
He further said, as there are possibilities of flooding in Salandi River the Bhadrak district administration has been asked to monitor the situation. The Agricultural area in a few gram panchayats under Tihidi block and Bhadrak Municipality area are likely to be affected.
Chief Engineer of Upper Mahanadi Basin, Jyotirmaya Rath said, the authorities of the Ravishankar Dam over river Mahanadi besides two medium projects Sikasar and Sondur on the upstream of the Hirakud Reservoir in Chhattisgarh have released water due to heavy rainfall on the upstream.
“It will take 48 hours for the water, released from the projects in Chhattisgarh, to reach the reservoir here. Hence, we have started releasing the water from the Hirakud reservoir here to maintain the equilibrium,” Rath said adding the 25 gates will remain opened tomorrow also. “We will gradually close the gates after inflow of water to the Hirakud reservoir starts declining,” he said.
While the average rainfall in the upper catchment of river Mahanadi was 34.25mm between 8.30am on Monday and 8.30am Tuesday, the rainfall in the downstream in this period was only 2.10mm, sources said. “With this amount of rain there is no possibility of flood in the downstream,” Rath pointed out.
