Bhubaneswar: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued orange and yellow warnings for several districts of Odisha, including the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, till 1.30 pm on Wednesday.
Orange warning of moderate rain/thundershower with lightning and one or two intense/heavy spells of rain likely in some parts of Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Angul, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Khurda, Puri, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Bargarh, Balangir, Sonepur, Boudh, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Rayagada, Kandhamal, Gajapati and Ganjam in 3 hours.
Light to moderate rain/thundershower may also occur in remaining districts of the state during this period.
The IMD has warned of wlogging in low-lying areas and occasionally poor visibility and traffic disruption in urban areas. People have been advised to keep a watch on the weather and accordingly move to safer places to protect themselves from lightning strikes.
According to the weather agency the Deep Depression over coastal Bangladesh and neighbourhood moved west-northwestwards and was laying over Gangetic West Bengal, close to Bankura (West Bengal), about 130 km west-northwest of Kolkata (West Bengal) and 190 km east-southeast of Ranchi, at 5.30 am. It is likely to move west-northwestwards across Jharkhand and weaken gradually into a depression during next 12 hours and into a well-marked low pressure area during subsequent 24 hours.
It had earlier forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall with isolated extremely heavy falls at a few places in Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Bargarh, Balangir and Sambalpur on August 2. Heavy to very heavy rainfall is also likely at one or two places in Deogarh, Angul, Keonjhar, Sonepur, Boudh, Balangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi and Kandhamal. Very heavy rain may occur at one or two places in Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Nayagarh, Nabarangpur, Jajpur and Bhadrak.
The weather agency has warned of waterlogging in low-lying areas, landslides in hilly regions, some damage to kutcha roads and houses and waterlogging at underpass and occasional reduction in visibility causing traffic jams in urban areas. The intense spells of rain may also lead to significant rise in the water level of rivers in the state, it had added.
