Thunderstorm, Gusty Wind & Hail Likely In Odisha For 3 Days; Orange Warning By IMD

Bhubaneswar: Several parts of Odisha are likely to encounter thunderstorm along with lightning, gusty surface winds and hail during the next three days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday.

In a special bulletin, the Meteorological Centre in Bhubaneswar said thunderstorm activity coupled with gusty wind may prevail in many parts of the state till the morning of February 25. A trough in westerlies runs from south Gangetic West Bengal to north Coastal Andhra Pradesh at 0.9 km above mean sea level, it said.

The weather agency issued orange warning for nine districts till Sunday morning. Thunderstorm with lightning, gusty surface wind speed reaching 50-60 kmph and hail may occur at one or two places of Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, and Kendrapada districts.

Similarly, yellow warning thunderstorm with lightning, gusty surface wind speed reaching 40-50kmphvery was issued for Sambalpur, Deogarh, Angul, Nayagarh, Khurda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Gajapati, Ganjam, Rayagada, Kalahandi, and Kandhamal during the period.

Orange warning of thunderstorm with lightning, gusty surface wind speed reaching 50-60 kmph and hail was also issued for districts of Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, and Keonjhar between Sunday and Monday morning.

Yellow warning of thunderstorm with lightning is likely to occur at one or two places over the districts of Mayurbhanj, and Balasore between February 24 morning and February 25.

People are advised to keep a watch on the weather for worsening conditions and be ready to move to safer places accordingly. People are advised to keep watch on weather and take safe shelter during the thunderstorm activity to protect from lightning and follow traffic advisories in urban areas. Also harvesting of crops may be regulated judicially and farmers are advised to use hail nets to protect vegetables and crops from hail.

The office of the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) also issued advisory to the districts concerned asking them to take appropriate steps in view of the weather forecast.