Heavy rains affect life in Odisha; downpour likely to continue

Life remained crippled in many parts of Odisha today due to incessant rainfall triggered by a low pressure which, the MeT department said, may turn into a depression and bring more downpour by tomorrow.

Heavy rains since yesterday also badly affected train services as well as road traffic in several areas of the state due to waterlogging, officials said.

At least five trains were cancelled, eight others partially cancelled, five trains rescheduled and originating station of five others altered, East Coast Railway (ECoR) sources said, adding that waterlogging was also reported in the Puri railway station.

Vehicular movement was hit in several places as road links were snapped due to gushing water, while educational institutions remained closed in Cuttack and Khurda, officials said.

Director of the Meteorological Centre here, H R Biswas said a low pressure area over the northwest Bay of Bengal, which now lies as a well marked low pressure area, is likely to concentrate into a depression and move west northwestwards by tomorrow.

Under its impact, more rainfall is likely to take place in northern and coastal interior parts of Odisha until tomorrow, said Biswas.

The MeT centre issued heavy rainfall alert for Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Jajpur, Mayurbhanj, Jharsuguda and Sundergarh till tomorrow.

Puri district recorded the maximum rainfall of 305 mm, causing hardships to people as low-lying areas were inundated, the officials said.

The road facing the Shri Jagannath Temple was in knee-deep water, they said.

The state capital, Bhubaneswar, recorded a rainfall of 141.4 mm which caused severe waterlogging at many places such as Acharya Vihar, Jaydev Vihar, Nayapalli, Paika Nagar, Bomikhal, Dumduma and Gouri Nagar with rain water gushing into houses in several localities, the officials said.

Personnel of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and fire brigade were pumping the water out and rescuing people in affected areas, they said.

The situation was equally bad in Cuttack where road traffic was severely affected as rain water inundated many places, the officials said.

Though water levels in several rivers were rising at many places, they were well below the danger mark, they said, adding that there was no cause for panic.

Deputy Relief Commissioner Pravat Ranjan Mohapatra ruled out the possibility of flood in the state but the administration in districts like Balasore and Mayurbhanj were asked to be in alert.

Average rainfall of the state recorded for the last 24 hours was 34.2 mm while the precipitation was much more than that in districts of Puri (134.9 mm), Khordha (95.0 mm), Cuttack (77.4 mm) and Jagatsinghpur (68.4 mm). All 30 districts received more or less rainfall in the last 24 hours.

Puri Sadar Block has recorded rainfall of more than 300 mm. Eleven more Blocks have recorded rainfall of over 100 mm, the statement said.