No flood threat in Mahanadi river system: Odisha official

Bhubaneswar: There is no fear of flood on the Mahanadi river system, though water was released from Hirakud Dam raising the level at Mundali barrage in Odisha's Cuttack district, a state government official said on Tuesday.

The authorities of Hirakud dam in Sambalpur district last Sunday released the season’s first floodwater downstream of the river Mahanadi river through 20 gates.

The water will pass through Mundali barrage in Cuttack district on Tuesday night.

"However, there is no threat of flood in the Mahanadi river system following the release of water from Hirakud Dam," Bhakta Ranjan Mohanty, engineer-in-chief (EIC), water resources, said.

“As per estimation, a maximum of about 5.10 lakh cusec water will pass through Mahanadi river through Mundali barrage and it will flow on the river bed only,” Mohanty said.

However, the government is on full alert and a nodal officer has been deputed to Cuttack to monitor the situation, he said.

The water level of Hirakud stood at 614.47 ft against its full reservoir capacity of 630 feet, on Tuesday morning, the official said.

While the inflow of water into the reservoir has reduced to 1.90 lakh cusec, the outflow was 3.50 lakh cusec. The water level of the dam is on a declining trend.

The authorities are now planning to close down some gates.

Due to heavy rainfall in north Odisha, the water level of Jalaka river has increased. The river was flowing at a level of 6.34 meters at Mathani in Balasore district above the warning level of 6 meters.

However, it was below the danger level of 6.50 meters and started a falling trend, the official said.

Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja held a virtual meeting with the collectors of districts concerned and took stock of the situation of different rivers in their jurisdictions.

Collectors of Sonepur, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Nayagarh, Cuttack and Puri attended the meeting.

The district collectors have kept ready the multipurpose cyclone shelters and emergency response teams.

The IMD forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall in the districts of Keonjhar, Deogarh, Angul, Dhenkanal, Sambalpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh, Bargarh, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Koraput, Kandhamal, Sonepur, Boudh, and Jharsuguda on Wednesday.