Mahanadi river breaches at Banki in Odisha

Thousands of people were on Saturday marooned and hectares of agricultural lands got submerged as the river Mahanadi breached at Bhagipur under Banki block in Odisha’s Cuttack district.

According to sources, initially, a breach measuring around five-foot wide was formed which later widened to around 60-foot causing a heavy flooding in the area. This is the second time after 1982 when the embankment of the state’s major river caved in.

Vehicular movement on many routes disrupted as roads and bridges were submerged by the flood water.

Reports from Jajpur district said at least 26 breaches occurred in Brahmani, Baitarani, Kharasrota and Jalaka river systems, causing serious damage to standing crops and vegetables.

As many as seven human lives have been lost and two others have gone missing in the last three days. Several cattle and goats were reportedly washed away in the floods in north Odisha as major rivers like Budhabalanga and Subarnarekha flew above their danger marks.

Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Kumar Jena said 46 sluice gates of Hirakud dam were opened as the upper catchment areas of the Mahanadi received huge rainfall in the last 24 hours. The SRC stated that the inflow into Hirakud reservoir had increased by more than 1 lakh cusec and the water level is rising by 8 cm every hour. “While over 8.9 lakh cusec water is entering the Hirakud reservoir, more than 7.2 lakh cusecs of water is being discharged through 44 of the 64 sluice gates of the dam. The water level at Hirakud Dam stood at 626.37 ft as against the full reservoir level of 630 ft,” Jena said. Till last reports came in, over 8.95 cusecs of water is flowing at Mundali barrage in Cuttack district which is likely to go up to 10 lakh cusec by Saturday evening.