Hirakud Dam to release season’s first flood water today
The Hirakud dam in Odisha's Sambalpur district released the first floodwaters of the season on Sunday, amid a steady rise in the reservoir's water level due to good rainfall upstream of the dam.
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Sambalpur: The Hirakud dam in Odisha's Sambalpur district released the first floodwaters of the season on Sunday, amid a steady rise in the reservoir's water level due to good rainfall upstream of the dam.
According to sources, the floodwater was released from the dam's sluice gate number 7 at 9 a.m. "As per tradition, a puja was performed at 8 a.m., and then the sluice gate of the dam was opened at 9 a.m. to release the floodwater," said Ananda Chandra Sahu, Chief Engineer, Upper Mahanadi Basin.
Four more gates were gradually opened later. "We're releasing 75,000 cubic feet of floodwater per second from the five gates." Mundali is currently receiving 85,000 cusec of water. "All Mahanadi river system distributaries have come to life," he said.
The release of floodwater will raise the water level in the distributaries. As a result, authorities have issued an alert, particularly for downstream areas. People have been asked to be cautious when entering tributaries.
According to Sahu, the floodwater will reach Mundali in 48 hours.
At 8 a.m., the dam's water level was 614.87 feet. "According to the rule curve, we have to raise the water level to 605 feet by July 31," he added.
Since 2019, the chief engineer has also accused Chhattisgarh of not cooperating and sharing status in upper catchment areas. "Chhattisgarh is not sharing information about dam release and storage." It is not attending or convening NCDS meetings, so data exchange between the two states is not possible. We are gathering floodwater management information from CWC and our own sources."
Hirakud Dam's floodwaters are released through 98 gates. The remaining 34 gates are crest gates, while 64 are sluice gates. When the reservoir level is at 630 feet, each sluice gate can discharge 16,440 cusec of water. Similarly, each crest gate has a discharge capacity of 16,238 cusec.
Last year, on July 11, authorities released the first floodwaters from the dam.
Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicts that a new low-pressure area will form around July 24. This could lead to more rains in Odisha.
