Sambalpur: Four more gates of Hirakud dam have been opened to discharge the excess water from the reservoir due to the incessant rain in the upper catchment area.
With this, water is being discharged through a total of 14 gates from the Hirakud dam.
The IMD had predicted heavy rains in the upper catchment area. As a result, the dam authorities opened two gates at 4 pm yesterday. After estimating that over one lakh cusecs of water was coming from the upper catchment area, eight more gates were opened in the morning. But by midday, four more gates have been opened due to the inflow of one and a half lakh cusecs of water. At present, water is being discharged through a total of 14 gates. The water level of Hirkud dam stood at 628.69ft earlier in the day.