Hirakud reservoir reached its designated height again. The dam authorities had reduced the water level in the reservoir by nine feet before the Phailin. That was a dire need then to avert any possible danger due to the cyclone and the torrential rains thereafter in Odisha and Chhattisgarh and the upper catchment area of the reservoir.
“This is for the first time in the history of the dam that during the last 60 years, the dam authorities reduced the water level in the month October supposed to be the most crucial from irrigation point of view,” said chief engineer of the dam and key person behind the water and flood management of the dam Biswajeet Mohanty.
On October 1, the water level had touched nearly 630 feet and there was every point for the authorities here to rejoice as they touched the ‘magic height’. Through regular monitoring, the dam authorities here kept the level at 692.67 feet up to October 8.
The authorities had to take a hard decision of decreasing the water level as the Met department had made heavy rain forecast from October 8 in view of the impending cyclone Phailin on October 12. By speedy discharge through 22 sluice gates, the water level reached at 628.56 feet on October 9. And finally, on October 12, water level reached at a ‘painful’ level of 621.31 feet. “We decided to close all the gates allowing inflow water to be stored again,” Mohanty said, adding that at the same time, the damn officials were watchful on rain in upper catchments.
“Due to closure of gates, water level started increasing from October 13 again and with gradual improvement, it reached 630 feet by October 20 morning,” informed Mohanty.