Incessant rain disrupts rail and road traffic in Odisha

Incessant rain triggered by a low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal threw life out of gear in many parts of Odisha amid disruption of rail and road traffic and waterlogging in low-lying areas on Thursday, officials said.

While heavy downpour battered coastal, southern and central Odisha for the last two days due to the low-pressure area over west-central Bay of Bengal, the Meteorological Centre here forecast more rain till Saturday morning.

In view of the weather condition, the state government has already asked the district administrations to remain prepared to deal with the situation like waterlogging, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), Pradip Jena said.

While more than 100 mm rainfall was received in districts such as Puri (138.3 mm), Ganjam (125.2 mm), Khurda (105.7 mm), Gajapati (100.6 mm) and Jagatsinghpur (100 mm), the state as a whole recorded an average rainfall of 45.1 mm since Wednesday, he said.

Kushnaprasad Block in Puri district recorded maximum rainfall of 249.4 mm rain followed by 203 mm in Chikiti in Ganjam district, Jena said.

"There is no threat of flood in any part of the state as of now. The rainfall has been well distributed. However, waterlogging is being faced in several low-lying areas including some localities of Cuttack," the SRC said.

Stating that the situation is under control, Jena said the district collectors have been alerted and necessary arrangements have been made to deal with any situation.

As a precautionary measure, all schools and anganwadi centres have been closed in eight districts of Ganjam, Gajapari, Bhadrak, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jajpur and Puri because of inclement weather, an official said.

Train services were severely affected due to heavy rain which caused waterlogging at various stations between Palasa and Vizianagaram and other places under East Coast Railway (ECoR) jurisdiction, a railway official said.

While at least four trains have so far been canceled, many express and passenger trains are running behind schedule. Many trains are being rescheduled, an ECoR spokesperson said.

Signaling posts also got affected at many stations due to heavy rain and the situation is gradually improving following drop in the intensity of rain, he said.

Intermittent rain caused severe water-logging in many low-lying areas such Nayapalli, Behera Sahi, Jaydev Vihar, Baramunda, Acharya Vihar, Jagamara, Rasulgarh, Mancheswar, Gouri Nagar and Jharpara.

Similarly, areas like Raja Bagicha faced severe waterlogging in Cuttack city.

The MeT Centre has issued "orange" warning (be prepared) for Nuapada, Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh and Keonjhar districts till Friday morning, predicting heavy to very heavy rain during the period.

Heavy rain is also likely to pound Kalahandi, Balangir, Sonepur, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Puri, Khordha and Cuttack districts during the same period, it said.

The weather department has issued a yellow warning for Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Balasore and Bhadrak districts from Friday to Saturday morning, forecasting heavy rain during the period.

Also, the MeT Centre has predicted that a squally weather condition with gusty surface winds of up to 50 kmph velocity is likely to prevail along and off the south Odisha coast, advising fishermen not to venture into the sea till Friday.