Koraput receives heavy rainfall

Bhubaneswar: Heavy rains lashed most parts of Odisha on Wednesday with the weather office predicting more showers over the next 48 hours.

A low pressure area along with a cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal amid an active south-west monsoon triggered the heavy rains, officials said.

In the last 24 hours, an average of 23.7 mm rainfall was recorded in the State, and it was 242 per cent more than normal. Due to the rains, several low-lying areas have been inundated.

Koraput district has received extremely heavy rainfall in the last 24 hours. Koraput town recorded the highest rainfall in the State at 168 mm. It was followed by Nandapur (137 mm), Similiguda (103 mm) and Jeypore (100.8 mm). The rains affected normal life in the district, an official said.

Besides the southern region of the State, the coastal and interior districts, including Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, will also continue to receive intense rainfall over the next two days.

The weather office issued a warning for heavy to very heavy rainfall for Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Sonepur, Bolangir, Boudh, Sambalpur, Angul, Bargarh and Jharsuguda till 8.30 am on Thursday.

Water Resources Department's engineering-in-chief Bhakta Ranjan Mohanty said there is no flood threat as of now. Excess water from the Hirakud dam is being released through two gates, he said.

The incessant rains might lead to significant rise in water level of the rivers, the IMD said and issued Orange warnings for 12 districts where heavy to very heavy rainfall (7 cm to 20 cm) is very likely to occur at one or two places.

It further said heavy rainfall (7 cm to 11 cm) is likely to occur at one or two places over the districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Khurda, Nayagarh, Puri and Gajapati and issued Yellow warnings for these districts.

Under the influence of low pressure, squally weather with gusty surface wind speed reaching 40 to 50 kmph is likely over North Bay of Bengal and adjoining Westcentral Bay of Bengal off Odisha coast during the next 24 hours, the Met department said. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into these areas of the sea.