This study is important since it investigates the effectiveness of sediment removal near hydropower intake by flushing. The method can replace the current expensive method for sediment removal by dredging. The sediment transport mechanism, maximum scour depth, volume, and scour area at the upstream of a cross-river structure model with different outlet configurations were investigated. The investigation included a series of experiments conducted in a laboratory on a 12-meter-long, 0.30-meter-wide, and 0.45-meter-deep flume. The shapes of the model outlets were circular, semicircular, and a three-quarter circle of the same diameter (D=11 cm). The cross-river structure was installed at the end of a 2 m working section with uniform sediment of median size(d50) of 0.23 mm and geometrical standard deviation (σ_g) of 1.29.  The total depth of the sediment in the working section was 10 cm. The collected data showed that the maximum scour volume was 1194.98 cm³ with the circular outlet, while with semicircular and three-quarter circle outlets was found to be 613.48 cm³ and 640.136 cm³, respectively. Compared with the scour volume upstream of the circular outlet (D=11cm), results showed that the scour volumes were reduced by 48.6% and 46.4% for outlets with a semicircle and three-quarter circle, respectively.