Rain To Lash Odisha From Nov 9, Alert Sounded For 15 Districts

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Tuesday alerted the collectors of 15 districts to stay prepared to meet any flood or water-logging situation that may arise in the event of  possible heavy rainfall.

The alert came in the wake of the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) forecast about the movement of a developing cyclonic storm towards the north Odisha coast.

Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) and special secretary, Disaster Management, Pradip Jena said that widespread rainfall is most likely to occur in south and coastal Odisha from November 9 (Saturday). These areas will also experience squally wind with speed gusting up to 60 kmph.

“Keeping this in view, the collectors of Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Ganjam, Puri, Gajapati, Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Boudh, Nuapada and Malkangiri districts have been asked to stay on alert and take all possible measures,” Jena told reporters here.

Landfall?

Jena said the IMD is yet to give any information on the possibility of the landfall of the cyclonic storm. However, going by the present movement of the system, the IMD hopes that the cyclonic storm is most likely to skip the Odisha coast and head for the West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts.

On the forecast by overseas weather agencies on the movement of the cyclonic storm, the SRC said that the state government relies on IMD predictions. “The IMD had correctly forecast cyclones Hudhud and Fani. We will go by its forecast of widespread rainfall and do the needful. The IMD will issue a special bulletin after every three hours to keep us updated about the movement of the cyclonic storm,” he informed.