Jawad Effect In Odisha: Massive Damage To Crops But Met Says Dry Weather From Dec 7 After ‘Cloudburst’; Check Details

Bhubaneswar: After extremely heavy rainfall in coastal districts of Odisha under the influence of the remnants of Cyclone Jawad, the regional meteorological centre here on Monday forecast dry weather in the state from December 7.

The skies will be cloudy in several coastal and neighbouring districts of the state on Monday with possibility of light rain in north coastal districts as Cyclone Jawad, which has weakened into a depression, tracks a north-northeast path along the West Bengal coast, the Met office said.

The night temperature will drop by 3 to 4 degrees Celsius on Monday.

“The depression lay centered over northwest Bay of Bengal close to north Odisha coast about 70 km east-northeast of Paradip and 65 km east-southeast of Chandbali. It will weaken into a well-marked low-pressure area during the next six hours,” the Met Department said, in an early morning update.

The cyclone may have fizzled out but the heavy rainfall that lashed the state on Monday has caused widespread damage to standing crops, which were ready for harvest.

The Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) and the Odisha University of Agriculture & Technology (OUAT) had issued an advisory to farmers to harvest 85 per cent of ripe paddy and store them in safe places ahead of the weather system hitting the state.

It triggered massive panic harvest in coastal districts. But farmers are now staring at huge losses as they were not able to shift the yield to safe places in time, exposing the harvest to Sunday’s heavy rainfall.

In many places, farmers couldn’t harvest their crops and the fields are now warer-logged.

Several places were pounded by extremely heavy rainfall on Monday. Paradip recorded 201 mm rainfall between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm on Monday, the highest in the state, the Met office said. The port town recorded a cloudburst — 103 mm rain in just an hour between 2.30 pm and 3.30 pm.

Erasama recorded 188 mm rainfall, while Kujang and Jagatsinghpur received 114 mm and 66 mm rain, respectively. Puri, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Khurda, Ganjam, Balasore and Bhadrak districts also received heavy rainfall.