Widespread rainfall likely in Odisha; 15 districts put on

With the deep depression over the Bay of Bengal likely to trigger widespread rainfall, the Odisha government has put on alert 15 of the state's 30 districts and asked them to be prepared for a possible flood- like situation, a government official said.

It is set to intensify into a cyclone though chances of the cyclonic storm hitting the Odisha coast are very low, an IMD official said.

The system is being closely monitored to ascertain the exact direction the cyclonic storm will take and possible location of its landfall, he said.

The depression that turned into a deep depression on Wednesday, lay centred over eastcentral and adjacent southeast Bay of Bengal, about 810 km south-southeast of Paradip in Odisha and 920 km south-southeast of Sagar Islands in West Bengal