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

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

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

As per latest report, the water level of Hirakud dam stood at 614.93 ft against the full reservoir level of 630 ft. While the inflow of water into the reservoir was 3,16,000 cusec, the outflow was 40,126 cusec.

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.

The State government asked Collectors of seven downstream districts to be on high alert and tell people not to go near the riverbank.

Collectors of Sambalpur, Sonepur, Nayagarh, Puri, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada have been asked to alert the people downstream not to enter to the Mahanadi riverside.

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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