Mahanadi floods more downstream areas, situation expected to worsen
Brick kiln workers try to salvage their belongings in Khurda
BHUBANESWAR: The overflowing Mahanadi and its tributaries submerged newer areas on Saturday as the Hirakud dam released water from 46 of its 64 sluice gates. The situation is expected to worsen as the waters released from the Hirakud dam will cross the Mundali barrage late Saturday evening and Sunday.
Due to heavy rain in the upper catchment areas of the Mahanadi in Chhattisgarh, a high alert has been issued in 12 districts of the state. According to the Central Water Commission (CWC), the Mahanadi is flowing above the danger mark at Surajgarh and Kalma in Chhattisgarh and might cause large-scale damage in its lower catchment area in Odisha.
Special Relief Commissioner Pradip Kumar Jena said inflow of around 10.5 lakh cusec water is expected at Mundali by 5 pm on Sunday, which will enter the Mahanadi delta and its distributaries like Kathajodi, Birupa, Devi, Daya, Bhargavi, Luna and Chitrotpala, triggering medium to high floods in the districts of Kendrapada, Cuttack, Jagatsingpur and Puri.
The water level in the Hirakud reservoir has touched 627.17 feet while the highest level of the reservoir is 630 feet. The water level of the reservoir is increasing by 8 cm per hour. For proper management of the reservoir water, 46 sluice gates were opened to release around 7.62 lakh cusec of water per second while 8.95 lakh cusec water is entering the reservoir per second, Jena added.
The swirling waters of the Mahanadi have already submerged large areas in Sambalpur, Sonepur, Bargarh, Nayagarh, Puri, Khurda and Cuttack districts. Besides, other rivers like Brahmani, Baitarani and Budhabalanga are still flowing above the danger mark in some places and it will take a couple of days more for the water to recede completely.
As many as 16 persons have died in various flood-related incidents while eight lakh people and three lakh livestock have been affected as per preliminary assessment, the SRC said.
To manage the situation, the state government has asked six senior bureaucrats to closely monitor the rescue and evacuation work in affected districts.