Overview
- Dam authorities opened four of Hirakud’s 67 sluice gates in the season’s first release and routed about 64,000 cusecs through the gates plus roughly 25,000 cusecs via the power channel and 5,000 cusecs through a canal.
- The operation is a routine reservoir-management move to reduce the Hirakud water level and create buffer storage for further monsoon spells.
- Officials said the release is phased and may expand with more gates and higher discharge up to about 100,000 cusecs depending on incoming river flows.
- A Central Water Commission-led Flood Crisis Management Team is coordinating the operation with senior engineers from Odisha and Chhattisgarh, and downstream districts were put on alert while monitoring uses the Mundali gauge.
- Authorities expect the controlled release to limit flooding because downstream discharge has been trending down but warned residents to follow local alerts since releases will affect irrigation, power channel flows and river levels in the Mahanadi basin.