Dam opened 33 gates : back water creates hevoc in Sambalpur

Hirakud dam authority has opened 33 gates to discharge the surplus flood water from reservoir as a result of which various river side areas of Sambalpur town have been submerged on Thursday. However the dam authority claims the situation is quite under control and nothing to be worried as reservoir level has started receding with decreasing in inflow water.
“We have decided to open another 6 gates on Wednesday night and Thursday morning with a total 33 gates to discharge the surplus water from the reservoir to control the ascending inflow. On Thursday morning the inflow of water went to 5.90 lakhs cusec. But slowly there was a considerable decrease in the inflow level and in the afternoon it came to 5.15 lakhs cusec. The water level of the reservoir that went to 622.12, was come to 622.06 in the afternoon”, the superintending engineer of the Hirakud dam project Janaki Ballav Mahapatra told.
However he hopes for a better in a day or two if the weather will remain dry for another couple of days “it all depends on the weather. I hope, we will bring the water level to 610 or slight below to 610 feet if the weather does not become rude to us since there is apprehension of another low pressure on 25th we need the water level under the control”, Er. Mahapatra added.
On the other hand, Sambalpur experienced a grimy situation due to the discharge of heavy water by the dam authority on Thursday. Hundreds of family living adjoining areas of River Mahanadi including Chandan Nagar, Charbhati, Cheptipulia, Mandalia, Kuluthkani and Binakhandi have been severely affected with the reservoir water. Few areas have been remained cut off as water comes to the road. The administration has identified 5 school premises to provide shelter to the affected families.
“We made announcement to advise the people to shift safer places in view of the huge discharge of water from the dam. We have also identified 5 school premises for the shelter of the affected people.”, district emergency officer Surendra Panda told. He also refused about information on casualty or house collapse so far due to flood water.
However the administration has not able to identify the numbers of families affected in the flood water as there was no attendance in the ‘shelter” centers opened by the administration. “Till Thursday afternoon nobody has been turned up to the identified centers’, Mr. Panda told.
The Hirakud dam control room source revealed that the water level of the reservoir was 622.06 feet on Thursday at 3 pm. While the inflow was 5.15 lakhs cusec of water, out flow was 5.50 lakhs cusec of water through power house canal and through 33 gates of the dam. While 3.4 mm rainfall was recorded in the upstream of the reservoir in down stream it was 3.24 mm. On Thursday generation of power remained 239.542 MW in Burla power house and 20.250 MW in chipilima power house.