Hirakud Dam’s 4 More Sluice Gates Opened to Release Flood Water

Sambalpur: Four more gates of the Hirakud dam in Sambalpur district were opened up on Tuesday for faster flood water release from the reservoir of the dam. At present water is being drained out of Hirakud reservoir through 12 gates.

More gates were opened to maintain the water level in the reservoir as a large quantity of water is entering the reservoir because of the heavy rainfall in the upper catchment areas of the Mahanadi river.

On Sunday, five sluice gates of the dam were opened to release this year’s first flood water. Three more sluice gates of the Hirakud Dam in were opened on Monday to drain out excess flood water entering the reservoir of the dam.

After the opening of these sluice gates of Hirakud, the water level in the Mahanadi river and its distributaries are all set to rise. All downstream districts have been alerted for it.

Water is being released from the Hirakud reservoir as the aim is to maintain the water level in the reservoir at 605 feet by July 31. The dam has a maximum water-bearing capacity of 630 feet.