The first floodwater of the season was released from the Hirakud Dam reservoir in Sambalpur district on Friday.
While sluice gate no. 7 was opened first for the release of water, as many as ten gates were opened later in the day in phases.
Collectors of Sambalpur, Bargarh, Subarnapur, Angul, Boudh, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Kandhamal, Khordha, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur and Puri have been asked to remain on alert, said an
official.
“In case we open ten gates, the outflow will be 1.5 lakh cusecs per hour and there is no possibility of floods downstream of the Mahanadi. However, we would like to inform people residing on the banks of Mahanadi and its distributaries that due to the release of floodwater, the water level will rise. We would request them to remain on alert to avoid any untoward incident,” Water Resources Department Principal Secretary Pradeep Jena has informed.