Bhubaneswar: Hirakud dam in Odisha will release the season's first floodwater from the reservoir on July 28 (Sunday).

The sluice gates of the Hirakud Dam will be opened at 9.00 AM on July 29 to release this year's first floodwater to downstream of the Mahanadi River, informed the Hirakud Dam's Chief Engineer today.

The alert has been issued accordingly in downstream of the Mahanadi River.

Notably, the water level at Hirakud Dam is increasing due to heavy rain flooding upstream of the Mahanadi River.

Report said that the water level in the reservoir rose by 2 ft to 604 ft today against its capacity of 630 ft. Due to the heavy rainfall in upper catchment areas of the Mahanadi River in neighbouring Chhattisgarh, 1,72,176 cusec floodwater is entering the dam.