Very Heavy Rain To Lash 13 Districts In Odisha Today; Yellow Alert For Khurda, Cuttack & Puri

Bhubaneswar: Thirteen districts in Odisha are likely to experience heavy to very heavy rainfall during the day under the influence of the low pressure over Northwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining areas of West Bengal-north Odisha coasts, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) informed on Friday.

Orange alert of heavy to very heavy rainfall (7 to 20cm) has been sounded for Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Balangir, Boudh, Angul, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Deogarh, Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Sonepur, Jharsuguda and Bargarh. Heavy rainfall (7 to 11cm) is likely at one or two places in Malkangiri, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Nuapada, Nayagarh, Khurda, Cuttack, Puri, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrak, and Balasore, according to the midday bulletin of the weather agency.

It has also warned of temporary water logging in low-lying areas, poor visibility during intense spells of rain and traffic congestion in urban areas. There is also a possibility of wall collapse of vulnerable kutcha houses and some damages of kutcha road. Landslides are also likely in vulnerable hilly areas in Kalahandi and Kandhamal districts. The rivers in the state are also likely to swell.

The intensity of rain will decrease on Saturday with heavy rainfall (7 to 11cm) at one or two places in Nuapada, Nabarangpur, Bargarh, Jharsuguda and Sundargarh. There is no rain warning thereafter.

In the last 24 hours, Odisha has recorded 32.1 mm rainfall against the normal of 12.8 mm, which 151% more than usual. This has helped to cover a deficit of 2%. Koenjhar districts has received the highest of 56.9 mm rainfall. “The state received 713.5 mm against its normal value of 772.8 mm till August 18 this monsoon season. While 9 districts are deficient, 1 in excess and rest 20 districts are in the normal category.”

However, the state may experience more rains from August 23 with the likely formation of another cyclonic circulation around August 25, according to scientist of IMD’s regional centre Umashankar Das.