Bhubaneswar: The regional meteorological centre of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) here issued thunderstorm alert for nine districts of Odisha on Monday.
The alert has been sounded for Balasore, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Koraput, Ganjam, Rayagada, Kandhamal, Angul and Nayagarh till 7:30 pm.
According to an IMD bulletin, the latest Doppler weather radar and images indicate that thunderstorm accompanied by hail and gusty surface wind speed reaching 50 to 60 kmph is likely to occur at these places.
People in these districts have been advised to stay indoors or shift to safe locations, if such weather conditions prevail.
Meanwhile, most parts of western Odisha came under intense heat wave with mercury soaring to 40 degree Celsius at nine places.
While Titlagarh was the hottest at 44 degree Celsius, mercury remained at 40 degree Celsius and above in Sonepur (43.4), Balangir (42.6), Malkangiri (41.6), Sambalpur (41.3), Bhawanipatna (41.2), Talcher (41.1), Jharsuguda (40.6) and Hirakud (40.1), said a local Met release here in the evening.
The Met office has predicted that in spite of rain and thundershower in some parts of the state, there would be no drastic change in the weather conditions till May 31 as the state is most likely to experience pre-monsoon showers from June 1.
