Hirakud dam opens its gate, creates flood like situation in neighboring areas

As the water-level in the Hirakud dam swelled, the authorities last night opened five more sluice gates of the dam in addition to the 15 spillways yesterday.
Meanwhile, three of the 20 gates have been closed and
only flood water is being released through 17 gates at the Hirakud dam.
After draining out 2.5 lakh cusecs of floodwater through 15 sluice gates yesterday, the authorities decided to open more gates in view of the full moon on July 27, said Jyotirmaya Rath, Chief Engineer of the Hirakud dam.
"As full moon leads to swelling of seas, water from the Mahanadi cannot be effectively drained into the river during that period. Keeping that in mind, we decided to open five more gates after midnight," he said
The season's first floodwater, released around 12 noon
yesterday, was expected to reach Mundali near Cuttack this evening, he said, adding that the level at the reservoir has come down to 614.47 feet at 6 pm today from 616.31 feet around 6 am in the morning, Rath said.
Dispelling fears of another flood-like situation due to discharge of water from the dam, Deputy SRC Pravat Ranjan
Mohapatra said the reservoir water would not affect the Mahanadi River System. He said water levels in other rivers
are also receding.