Sambalpur, July 28: The Hirakud Dam authorities in Odisha will release the Hirakud reservoir's first flood water of this year's rainy season today. 

As per the tradition, a puja will be performed at 8 am and then sluice gates of the dam will be opened at 9 am to release the flood water into the river Mahanadi, official sources said. 

Gate No.7 of the dam will be opened first as per practice. A total of 20 sluice gates will be unlocked.

As per latest report, the water level of Hirakud dam stood at 614.93 ft against the full reservoir level of 630 ft. The inflow of water into the reservoir was 3,16,611 cusec every second.

The decision to release the flood water from the dam was taken following the heavy rainfall in the upper catchment area of the Mahanadi River in the last couple of days, a senior official said.

An alert has been sounded in districts downstream of Mahanadi in this regard, he added.

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast that heavy rainfall will continue to lash Sambalpur, Bargarh, Subarnapur and several other districts for the next four days. 

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