Sambalpur: Hirakud dam authorities Wednesday opened two more sluice gates of the dam as rising inflows from heavy rainfall in the upper catchment continued to push up the reservoir’s water level.
Floodwater is now being discharged into the Mahanadi river through a total of 12 sluice gates, according to the Hirakud Dam control room.
Officials said 34.80 mm of rainfall was recorded in the upper catchment and 36.41 mm in the lower catchment during the past 24 hours.
As of 3:30 p.m., the reservoir’s water level had risen to 613.45 feet.
The dam was receiving an average inflow of 1,92,921 cusecs, while the total outflow stood at 2,16,069 cusecs.
Of the total discharge, 1,81,860 cusecs of floodwater was being released into the Mahanadi through 12 sluice gates, including eight on the left spillway and four on the right.
In addition, 30,946 cusecs was being released through the power channel, 2,626 cusecs through the Baragada Canal, 400 cusecs through the Sasan Canal, 81 cusecs through the Sambalpur Canal and 247 cusecs for industrial use, taking the combined canal and industrial discharge to 34,300 cusecs.
