Flood-Like Situation Improves In Malkangiri; Well-Marked LOPAR Over Interior Odisha, Heavy Rain To Continue

Bhubaneswar: There was some improvement in deluge-like situationin Malkangiri, which witnessed extreme heavy rainfall under the influence of a depression over Odisha coast in the last 48 hours, on Sunday. 

However, road communication is yet to be restored in some parts of the district and floodwater is still flowing over Korukonda bridge, sources said.

Inter-state and intra-district traffic were severely disrupted after a 2-km stretch of NH-326 near Motu in Malkangiri district was submerged following incessant rainfall, snapping road communication between the district and the bordering states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Chhattisgarh. Floodwater was also seen flowing over some bridges in low-lying areas of Korukonda, MV-19 and MV-96 villages. Malkangiri town too, witnessed waterlogging due to which people had to be shifted to safer places.

Mudulipada and Andrahal panchayats under Khairaput block, home to Bondas, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), also remained cut-off from the block headquarters due to landslides. Agricultural lands were also flooded.

Things improved as there was rainfall in the district since last night.

There is no further rain warning for Malkangiri. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy rainfall (7 to 11cm) at one or two places in Balangir, Nuapada, Kandhamal, Deogarh, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada during the next 24 hours.

The Depression has also weakened into a well-marked Low Pressure area and now lies over interior Odisha and neighbourhood. It is likely to move northwestwards across Chhattisgarh and weaken gradually into a low-pressure area during the next 12 hours.

Odisha, however, may continue to experience heavy rain during the next 5 day.

According to SOA’s Centre for Environment and Climate (CEC), heavy to very heavy rains spread across coastal, northern and western parts of the state may persist till Saturday evening. Heavy rainfall is likely in western Odisha up to Tuesday, it said.

“Fresh moderate to heavy precipitation is expected in northern and western Odisha again from Tuesday including in the catchment of major rivers like upper Mahanadi, Baitarani, Brahmani, Budhabalanga and Subarnarekha due to presence of a cyclonic circulation over north Odisha and Jharkhand which will continue till next Friday,” it added.