Representative image.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Heavy rains lashed parts of Odisha, including capital Bhubaneswar, on Thursday affecting normal life.
The heavy rain is due to activation of the south-west monsoon and a cyclonic circulation and more such precipitation is forecast for one more day, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The heavy rainfall during the day affected normal life in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack as the downpour continued for about three hours in the afternoon. Office goers and students had a tough time due to the incessant rain and most of the low lying areas were inundated.
The intense spells, however, have not been able to overcome the rainfall deficit in the state, which recorded 867.9 mm precipitation against its normal of 984.9 mm till September 7 this monsoon. While 10 districts received deficient rainfall, the remaining 20 of Odisha are in the normal category, the local met office said.
“Intense spells of rain are continuing over some parts of Cuttack, Angul, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Deogarh, Jatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Boudh, Kalahandi, Nuapada and Jajpur,” the Regional Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, at 3.30 pm.
According to the midday bulletin of the IMD, there is yellow warning of heavy to very heavy rainfall in one or two places in Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Sundergarh and Bargarh districts. Heavy rainfall is forecast at one or two places in the districts of Malakangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati, Nawarangpur, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Bolangir, Sonepur, Boudh, Deogarh, Angul, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj till 8.30 am of Friday.
Yellow warning is also issued at one or two places over the districts of Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Deogarh, Angul, Cuttack, Dhenkanal on Saturday, it said.
There is, however, no warning of heavy rain after Saturday, an IMD official said.
According to the Regional Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar, the state recorded an average rainfall of 15.6 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours and 83.7 mm this month against the September average of 231.9 mm.
On Wednesday, Similiguda block in Koraput district received the highest rainfall of 158 mm. The other places that recorded more than 100 mm of rain were Boipariguda (121 mm) and Bandhugaon (107 mm) in Koraput and Nabarangpur (115 mm) in Nabarangpur district.