Sambalpur, July 6: The monsoon’s first flood water of the River Mahanadi from Odisha’s Hirakud Dam was been released on Sunday.
As many as 12 sluice gates of the Hirakud Reservoir in Sambalpur were opened up in the morning to the left spillway following a puja performed on the dam.
After performing the special rituals, the sluice gate No.7 gate of the Hirakud dam was opened first, and later 11 more gates were opened up in a phased manner to exit the surplus water entering the reservoir from the upper stream of the Mahanadi
Alerts have been sounded by the dam authorities, especially for the downstream areas in view of the opening of the spillways that might lead to rise of water level in the low lying areas.
Opening of more gates will be decided based on the inputs of the water from the distributaries and the rate of rainfall in Chhattisgarh, said a dam official.
