Mahanadi waters inundate parts of Odisha

Low-lying areas in Cuttack, Boudh and Sambalpur districts of Odisha have been inundated as 4.55 lakh cusecs of water were released through 26 sluice gates of Hirakud Dam, officials said on Saturday.

The Hirakud Dam authorities were forced to release the excess water as the reservoir received 4.50 lakh cusecs of water from the upper catchment areas in neighbouring Chhattisgarh, they said.

With the release of the water, the water level downstream of Mahanadi at Mundali in Cuttack district swelled to 7 lakh cusecs on Saturday afternoon, inundating parts of Banki and Athagarh areas in the district.

Water Resources Department engineer-in-chief Bhakta Ranjan Mohanty, however, claimed there was no fear of floods in the Mahanadi River system.

'Some low-lying areas have been inundated but those were not floods. The passage of 7 lakh cusecs of water through Mundali is manageable,' he said.

He claimed that the present situation was due to heavy rainfall in both upstream and downstream of Mahanadi.

'We are operating the gates of Hirakud as per the inflow from the upstream of Mahanadi. As of now, there is no flood threat in Odisha. We are monitoring the situation and working in coordination with the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC),' Mohanty said.

According to the SRC's office, the water level at Hirakud reservoir stands at 627 feet against its optimum capacity of 630 feet. An alert has been sounded in districts downstream of Mahanadi.

With the increase in water level in Mahanadi, agricultural fields in six panchayats in Banki block of Cuttack district have been inundated and water was flowing two feet above Hulhula bridge in the block, revenue department officials said.

Also, road communication between Subarnapur and Banki has been snapped and a similar situation was reported in different panchayats in Tigiria block, they said.

The Mahanadi waters have also inundated the road between Sambalpur and Sonepur, another official said, adding fresh rain in Bolangir and Kalahandi added to the woos.

Meanwhile, thundershowers occurred in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack on Saturday evening, causing water-logging in several areas.

Met officials said Odisha has recorded 217.1 mm of rainfall between September 1 and 16 against the monthly average of 231.9 mm. In the last 24 hours, 25 blocks have recorded rainfall of more than 10 mm with the highest of 45.4 mm at Reamal block in Deogarh district.