Odisha govt alerts districts in view of likely heavy rain in

With a fresh low pressure area building up over Bay of Bengal set to trigger heavy rain in many areas in the next three days, Odisha Government on Friday asked districts to remain prepared to meet the situation.

This will be the third instance of low pressure area triggering downpour in the state in August.

Several areas of south and west Odisha had encountered flash floods owing to incessant rainfall earlier this month.

In the past two days, too, several parts of the state have experienced rainfall of varied intensity.

Vehicular traffic was disrupted in Bhubaneswar on Friday as rain lashed Nayapalli, Jaydev Vihar, Acharya Vihar, Baramunda, GGP Colony, Jharpara and Palasuni areas here.

Under the influence of the cyclonic circulation, over northwest Bay of Bengal off Odisha and West Bengal coasts, a low pressure area is likely to form over Odisha and its neighbourhood in the next 36 hours.

Heavy to very heavy rainfall are likely to occur in Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Puri districts till Saturday, the meteorological centre said.

Heavy rainfall is also expected in Kendrapara, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Sundargarh, Angul, Khordha, Ganjam, among other areas during the period.

Torrential downpour may also batter places in Sundergarh, Keonjhar, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Balangir and Nuapada districts on Sunday and Monday.

Squally wind with speed reaching 40-50 kmph is likely to prevail along Odisha coast and adjoining northwest and west central Bay of Bengal, the MeT Centre said.

As sea condition is likely to be rough to very rough, fishermen have been cautioned against venturing into the sea on Saturday and Sunday, it added.

In view of the weather forecast, revenue and disaster management department asked Collectors of the districts under very heavy to heavy rainfall warning to keep administrative machinery prepared to meet any possible situation that may arise in the event of intense rainfall.

An advisory issued by the department said other districts should closely watch the situation and take appropriate steps, as may be necessary.

Fire service, ODRAF (Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force) and NDRF were asked to remain in a state of readiness for deployment for search and rescue operation, if required.

The emergency cells in all the districts were asked to operate round the clock.