Bhubaneswar: The fear of flood in the Mahanadi river system receded on Tuesday with a drop in the amount of water discharged from the Mundali barrage in Cuttack.
"At present, around 4 lakh cusec of water is being discharged from Mundali. The water level of the Baitarani has also receded. So there is no flood threat to the Mahanadi basin," said special relief commissioner Bishnupada Sethi.
The state government had apprehended on Monday that a medium scale flood might hit the Mahanadi river system.
But by Monday evening, 7.30 lakh cusec water passing through Mundali and it was estimated that the water flow might reach 8 lakh cusec.
However, much to the relief of the state government and the people living in villages along the river, the flood did not occur.
"Rainfall in the last 24 hours is almost negligible in many districts. Most of the districts that had been alerted for possible flood are now safe. Water level of the Baitarani has also dropped to below danger level," Sethi said.
Baitarani was earlier flowing close to the danger mark at Akhuapada in Bhadrak district causing flood scare in the river basin.
Other major rivers of the state are flowing below the danger level.
The government had on Monday asked the administration in Bhadrak, Jajpur and Keonjhar districts to remain on high alert.
Earlier on Tuesday, chief minister Naveen Patnaik visited Sambalpur to take a stock of the flood situation and review the preparedness in 10 districts under the northern revenue division.