Cuttack: The district administration has alerted the Banki sub-division about the possibility of flood in the Mahanadi river following the release of water from the Hirakud dam through 25 of its 64 gates.

Emergency officer Prabodh Rout on Thursday said: "About 6,43,390 cusecs of water was discharged at Mundali by 12 noon. About nine lakh cusecs of water was expected to be discharged at Mundali by 7pm. This may cause flood in three gram panchayats of the Banki sub-division."

He said the officials in Banki were already prepared with the emergency measures to meet any eventuality at villages under the three gram panchayats on the Mahanadi banks. "Local people have been warned through public address system, and flood shelter places have been made ready with all relief materials, including dry food," Rout said.

The emergency officer said: "There is nothing to panic over the passing of floodwaters from the Hirakud dam passing through Mundali as the water is being released in phases and it gets distributed by the time it passes Cuttack. More so, by the time the water passes through Cuttack, the existing water downstream may be released to the sea."

According to the flood design adopted at the Naraj head, 43 per cent of the water discharged at Mundali is allowed to flow through the Mahanadi, while the rest 57 per cent is diverted to the Kathajodi.

Irrigation authorities, on the other hand, are apprehensive about possible floods in the rural areas downstream of Cuttack with such huge flow of floodwater.

An official said silting of the two rivers had been making it difficult to determine floodwater release to Cuttack's rural areas, especially those adjoining Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts as the water carrying capacity of the two rivers downstream of the city was decreasing.

The rise in river beds has been posing problems in gauging the water carrying capacity of the rivers in the delta. The rivers are now expected to carry not more than 8.5 lakh cusecs of water. A pre-flood analysis revealed more than 130 points were vulnerable to flooding due to breaches. While 113 points had already been repaired, work was ongoing in the rest of the points. The majority of the vulnerable points were located in the Prachi irrigation division followed by the Mahanadi irrigation division (north).