Vehicles Swept Away as Heavy Rain Lashes Odisha Capital

Bhubaneswar: The heavy downpour that brought relief to the people of the Capital City on Tuesday afternoon proved a nightmare for the vehicle owners in the low-lying areas as some vehicles got submerged while others were swept away by the swirling rainwater.

Weather in the capital city suddenly changed in the afternoon with the gathering of dark clouds. Heavy rain accompanied by lightning lashed the city at about 4.30 pm and continued for about one and a half hours till 6 pm.

Due to heavy rain, several vehicles were submerged in the rainwater near ISKCON temple in Nayapalli, Jayadev Vihar, Acharya Vihar, Rasulgarh, Kalpana Square and Laxmisagar areas while people were seen pushing their vehicles out of the knee-deep rainwater.

So heavy was the rainfall that some four-wheelers were swept away by the strong current in the water flowing along the NH near ISKCON temple.

While the power supply was snapped in most of the areas in the city for over an hour, it was yet to be restored in some parts till the report was filed.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) in a mid-day bulletin forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall at one or two places in Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Cuttack, Khurda, Sambalpur and Deogarh districts in next 24 hours. The Capital City will receive another spell of heavy rainfall on Wednesday, it said.