Bhubaneswar: The low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal is to have no major impact on the Mahanadi river system, said Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Kumar Jena on Thursday.
Jena informed that the low pressure area is likely to concentrate into a deep depression. Under its influence light to moderate rainfall is likely to occur in north and western Odisha on August 20 and 21 and in coastal Odisha from today evening till August 20.
Heavy rainfall is likely to occur in isolated places. In case of heavy rainfall, the inflow at Hirakud dam will be around 5 to 5.5 lakh cusec on August 21. The reservoir level would be 621 feet so there will be space to balance the water level, he added.
At 12 pm today, the water level in Hirakud reservoir was 624.31 feet. The dam was receiving 4.63 lakh cusec water from the upstream and discharging 6.73 lakh cusec through 40 sluice gates.
The discharge at Khairmal was 8.7 lakh cusec, at Barmul it was 8.75 lakh cusec and at Mundali it was 10.26 lakh cusec.
The SRC also informed that seven embankments have been breached on Mahanadi river system till date. No new breaches have been reported in the last 24 hours.
Efforts are underway to evacuate people in the affected areas to shelter homes and provide them with relief materials. District administrations have arranged for boats for evacuation in some areas. The district collectors and their teams are working round the clock, added Jena.
