In view of heavy water inflow into the Hirakud reservoir following heavy downpours in upper catchment areas of Mahanadi river, the dam authorities opened seven more gates on Monday to release the excess floodwater.
With opening of the seven more gates, more than 2.2 lakh cusecs water was being discharged from the dam through 14 gates.
Sources said the water level at Hirakud dam was 620.89 ft by 8.00 am on August 19 against total storage capacity of 630 ft.
The expected maximum flood flow at the Mundali point would be about four lakh cusec on the day.
