Odisha To Witness Medium-Scale Flood In Mahanadi: SRC
Odisha To Witness Medium-Scale Flood In Mahanadi: SRC
admin
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government issued a warning of a moderate flood in the Mahanadi river system on Sunday and ordered officials to take the required precautions for evacuation and rehabilitation wherever necessary.
The peak flood level in the Mahanadi river is anticipated to pass through Mundali barrage in Cuttack by Monday afternoon, according to Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) P K Jena, who examined the potential flood situation following days of nonstop rain in several areas of the state and Chhattisgarh.
Senior executives from the departments of Water Resources, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), and Fire Services discussed the potential flood situation with SRC.
According to Jena, a moderate flood, comparable to the one that occurred in Mahanadi in August 2019, is predicted to occur in the river when a lot of rain falls in the upstream and downstream portions of the upper watershed.
When the water released from Hirakud reaches Mundali, it is anticipated that the Mahanadi river basin would experience the peak flood. Around Monday afternoon, 10 to 10.50 lakh cubic seconds of floodwater are anticipated to pass through Mundali, according to the SRC.
Jena stated that it has been decided to manage the flow by releasing extra water through 34 sluice gates of the Hirakud dam, noting that approximately 9.56 lakh cusec of water was already flowing in Mahanadi near Khairmal. Although opening up to 40 sluice gates had previously been suggested, he stated, "today we want to manage the issue by retaining it at 34 gates."
According to Jena, a small increase in the water level at Hirakud—which is currently 616.8 feet rather than the 630 feet of the complete reservoir—will not cause any major issues.
In order to monitor the situation and take all necessary precautions, senior engineers have been dispatched to several districts and the Water Resources department has been put on notice. In light of the flood crisis, the authorities in districts like Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Khurda Puri, Nayagarh, and Cuttack have been warned to monitor river embankments.
In addition, he added that plans would be made to provide food and other essentials at the shelter centres. They have been urged to evacuate from low lying areas if necessary and move people to safe positions in susceptible places.
The SRC stated that as a preventative step, 7 teams from ODRAF, 3 teams from NDRF, and 12 teams from the Fire Services department had already been mobilised in these districts.
The well-defined low pressure region over the Bay of Bengal has strengthened into a depression in the meantime, increasing the chance of increased rainfall in various areas of Odisha while also battering upper catchment areas of the Mahanadi river in neighbouring Chhattisgarh with severe rains.
