BHUBANESWAR: Odisha’s flood situation worsened on Friday as heavy inflow from the upper catchment areas of the Mahanadi in Chhattisgarh forced the release of more than two lakh cusecs of water from the Hirakud Dam.The action caused the Mahanadi and its tributaries to swell, affecting nearly seven lakh people across 20 districts, news agency PTI reported.The rising water level inundated several low-lying areas and caused many tributaries, including the Luna, Karandia, Chitrotpala, Paika, Salia, Devi, Kandala, Kuakhai, Kushabhadra, Daya and Bhargavi, to overflow, worsening the flood situation.However, officials said the absence of rainfall over the past 24 hours in both Odisha and the upper catchment areas has brought some relief.Revenue and disaster management minister Suresh Pujari, after reviewing the flood situation, said 14 gates of the Hirakud Dam have now been opened, up from just two earlier.It is releasing more than two lakh cusecs of water due to heavy inflows from the Mahanadi basin in neighbouring Chhattisgarh.“The water will take around 36 to 40 hours to reach Mundali near Cuttack,” the minister said.By Friday morning, the Hirakud reservoir’s water level stood at 623.52 feet against its full reservoir level of 630 feet.The dam was receiving nearly 3.69 lakh cusecs of inflow, while around 65,543 cusecs were being released downstream.Pujari said more than eight lakh cusecs of water would need to pass through Mundali over the next 36 hours to accommodate the additional inflow from Hirakud.Officials said the state government is closely monitoring the downstream flow, particularly in vulnerable districts along the Mahanadi river system, where floodwaters have entered villages and agricultural land.Parts of Cuttack, Puri, Khurda and Jagatsinghpur districts have been inundated, with authorities making arrangements to minimise hardship for residents.The latest surge comes days after the state issued warnings of a possible flash flood in the Mahanadi basin following heavy rainfall in the upper catchment areas.Authorities had alerted district administrations, deployed ODRAF and NDRF teams, and shifted people from vulnerable areas as a precaution.The flood situation has expanded significantly since the first spell of inundation earlier this week.While over two lakh people across several districts were initially affected, the number has now risen to nearly seven lakh, with 20 of Odisha’s 30 districts experiencing varying degrees of flooding.According to special relief commissioner Rajesh Prabhakar Patil, more than 1.90 lakh people have been evacuated to safer locations, while the state has set up 520 relief centres with the capacity to shelter around two lakh people.A total of 136 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and Fire Services have been deployed for rescue and relief operations.Officials said three people have died in flood-related incidents so far. Relief and rescue operations are continuing in the affected districts, with the state government supplying food, drinking water and other essential items to marooned villages while assessing damage to crops, roads and other infrastructure.As a precaution, the state government has cancelled the leave of all government employees in the 20 affected districts, restricted public access to barrages and embankments, and barred devotees from visiting the Dhabaleswar Shiv Temple in Cuttack district for 48 hours.Meanwhile, the water resources department said water levels in the Baitarani, Brahmani, Jalaka and Budhabalanga rivers have receded, though fresh embankment breaches have led to flooding in some new areas.Authorities said they would continue to regulate the discharge from Hirakud Dam depending on inflow from the upper catchment and downstream river conditions to minimise the flood impact.(With agency inputs)
