Rain-Soaked Odisha To Encounter More Downpour, Gusty Wind

Bhubaneswar: Already battered by rainfall spells, several parts of Odisha were pounded by heavy downpour coupled with thunderstorm and high velocity wind on Saturday, disrupting normal life.

As forecast by the India Meteorological Centre (IMD), heavy rainfall lashed several parts of the state, including the state including the state capital of Bhubaneswar and millennium city of of Cuttack.

Normal life was disrupted for quite some time as several low lying areas of the capital city were submerged with water following intense rainfall and squall sine this morning.

Vehicular movement was also affected and commuters took shelter at safe places as roads in low lying areas were inundated by rainwater, sources said.

IMD had issued an ‘Orange Warning’ for thunderstorm with lightning and gusty surface wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph in several parts of the state.

The warning was issued for the districts of Kendrapada, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Angul, Dhenkanal, Boudh, Kandhamal, Nayagarh and Khurda.

The IMD had also issued heavy rainfall alert for Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Jajpur, Dhenkanal and Cuttack. As per the IMD forest issued yesterday, light to moderate rain or thunderstorm is very likely to occur at many places over the districts of Coastal Odisha like Mayurbhanj, Dhenkanal, Rayagada, Malkangiri and Koraput in the next 24 hours.

Meanwhile, in a Nowcast Warning at 11.35 am the Meteorological Centre in Bhubaneswar said that light to moderate  thundershower with lightning and gusty surface wind speed reaching 30-40 Kmph is likely to affect some parts of Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Ganjamand Puri district within next three hours.

People have been advised to keep a watch on the weather and accordingly move to safer places to protect from lightning strike.