Incessant rains disrupt normal life in southern Odisha

Incessant rains disrupted normal life in several parts of southern Odisha, particularly Malkangiri district, today with many areas submerged amidst fears of worsening situation.

The MeT Department has forecast more downpour till tomorrow.

Officials said the worst hit was Malkangiri district, where heavy rains triggered by a low pressure since yesterday inundated many low-lying areas, disrupting vehicular movement and crippling normal life.

With flood water flowing around four feet above a bridge over the Pangam river, about 35 kms from Malkangiri, the road traffic between Malkangiri and Jeypore in Koraput district came to a grinding halt, they said.

A large number of vehicles were stranded due to severe water-logging which also affected transportation of essential commodities in the region.

Vast areas in Kalimela, Motu, Mathili, Poteru and Padia were submerged. Mathili recorded 183 mm of rainfall since last night, according to the Special Relief Commissioner's (SRC) office here.

Khairput in Malkangiri district recorded 179 mm of rainfall during the period, it said.

Malkangiri district collector Manish Agarwal said the officials in all the seven blocks have been asked to remain on alert and keep a close watch on the situation.

Control rooms have been set up to constantly monitor the situation caused by heavy rains, he said.

The situation in neighbouring Rayagada and Koraput districts was the same. Many low-lying places in Gunupur area in Rayagada and Laxmipur in Koraput were submerged, the officials said.

Kotpad in Koraput district recorded 175 mm of rainfall while Jeypore received 127 mm of rainfall and Boiparigua recorded 108 mm of rainfall during the period, the officials said, adding that many areas of Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj, Kalahandi and Balasore districts were also lashed by heavy rains since yesterday.

The Meteorological Centre said heavy rainfall is likely to occur at some places over Malkangiri, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Deogarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Dhenkanal and Cuttack during the next 24 hours due to low pressure over Bay of Bengal.

Similarly, extremely heavy rainfall is likely to lash some places in Malkangiri, Koraput, Nabarangpur while rest of the districts in north Odisha and Khurda, Puri, Nuapada and Kalahandi are expected to receive heavy rainfall during the period, the weather office said.

Average rainfall of the state recorded in the last 24 hours was 29.2 mm, the SRC's office said in a statement here.

Five districts have received average rainfall between 50 mm and 100 mm. The districts are Sundargarh - 87.0 mm, Malkanagiri- 84.9 mm, Koraput- 65.0 mm, Jharsuguda- 56.1 mm and Balasore- 54.3 mm, it said.

Ten more districts which received rainfall between 25 mm and 50 mm are Keonjhar- 47.7 mm, Mayurbhanj- 47.6 mm, Nawarangpur- 41.6 mm, Sambalpur- 35.0 mm, Kalahandi- 34.5 mm, Kandhamal- 29.3 mm, Kendrapara- 28.5 mm, Rayagada- 27.9 mm, Deogarh- 25.9 mm and Bargarh- 25.4 mm.

With this, the cumulative average rainfall of the state from June 1 till date comes to a surplus of 11.9 per cent over the long term average rainfall.

Nine districts have received surplus rainfall of more than 19 per cent whereas 21 districts have received normal rainfall (+19% to -19%) during the period.

The officials, however, ruled out the likelihood of any immediate flood as all the major rivers are flowing below the danger levels.