Bhubaneswar: The Hirakud Dam will release its first floodwater of the season on Thursday as four gates are scheduled to be opened at 11 am, informed Dillip Kumar Rout, Engineer-in-Chief of the Water Resources Department.
According to Rout, The water level in the Hirakud Reservoir in Odisha continued to rise for which four gates of the Hirakud Dam will be opened tomorrow. Subsequently, more gates will be gradually opened to increase the outflow up to 1 lakh cusecs.
At present, the water level in the Hirakud reservoir stands at 611.23 feet, while the inflow is recorded at 2.62 lakh cusecs. The outflow at Mundali, which was 5.54 lakh cusecs on Tuesday night, has now reduced to 4.80 lakh cusecs and is expected to decrease further.
He, however, stated that there is no immediate threat of flooding in the downstream areas due to the controlled release of water.
Meanwhile, a high-level meeting of the Flood Crisis Management Team is currently underway in Sambalpur under the chairmanship of the Central Water Commission. Senior engineers from both Odisha and Chhattisgarh governments are participating in the meeting to discuss effective reservoir management and flood control strategies during the monsoon season.
This measured release of water is part of routine reservoir operation to safely manage the rising water level in the dam.
