Dense Fog Stalls Life & Traffic In Odisha, Yellow Warning For 8 Districts

Bhubaneswar: Most parts of Odisha were enveloped in dense fog on Friday morning with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issuing yellow warning for eight districts.

The IMD’s morning bulletin warned of dense fog at one or two places in Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Malkangiri, Dhenkanal, Mayurbhanj, Angul, Kalahandi and Koraput districts for two days till January 18.

Besides, there will be dense fog in some parts of Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Khurda, Balasore and Bhadrak districts for the next two days.

The duty officer of Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar, Madan Mohan Das said the dense fog in the state was due to the presence of moisture in the atmosphere. “The recent rainfall in the state has left enough moisture in the atmosphere resulting in the dense fog condition. This will continue till next week,” he added.

Das further said that due to the dense fog, the night temperature in most places in Odisha has come down by 1-2 degree Celsius.

According to reports, vehicular traffic came to a standstill in Chandbali, Angul and Paradip due to dense fog on Friday.

The visibility in Chandbali was 20 metres while it was 30 metres in Angul and Paradip.

Apart from this, the visibility in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri was 50 metres. Similar condition prevailed in Gopalpur, Berhampur, Nayagarh and Balasore.

Several vehicles were seen parked on both sides of National Highway-16 between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar till 9 am as the drivers did not take the risk due to poor visibility.

Meanwhile, two persons were seriously injured when a car in which they were travelling hit a roadside tree near Gudari village under Khajuripada police limits in Kandhamal district late on Thursday night. Police said that the mishap took place as the driver lost control of the vehicle due to dense fog.

In Kendrapara districts, more than 30-35 passengers including women and children were stranded in the sea when a motorboat carrying them from Talachua to Chandbali lost direction early in the morning.

As informed by Gobardhan, a passenger, the motorboat left Talachua around 6 am. However, the driver lost direction after arriving at Dhamara river mouth around 6.30 am and drove the boat into the deep sea. As the driver later realized that the boat has drifted into the sea, he anchored the boat.

“We have been stranded in the sea for more than four hours. I have informed the Rajnagar IIC, and collectors of Kendrapara and Bhadrak and the Marine police to rescue all the passengers. Though they said that they will send a team to rescue us, there is no sign of any team,” he added.

The passenger, after an hour, however, informed the media that as the boat has no GPS, he has asked the driver to drive the boat with the help of the Google Map on his mobile phone. “We are now entering the river mouth in accordance with the Google route map and hope to reach our destination,” he added.