Rain batters Odisha as Bhubaneswar, Puri receive record rainfall

Odisha capital Bhubaneswar received 195 mm rainfall in 24 hours, breaking a 63-year-old record, as rain clobbered large parts of the state and prompted authorities to issue a flood alert, officials said on Monday.

Two people were learnt to have died in an incident of wall collapse in Kendrapara district but there was no official confirmation.

The pilgrim town of Puri also broke the 87-year-old record with 341 mm of rain in a single day. The coastal town had received 210.8 mm rain on September 2, 1934, offficials said.

Vehicles were seen floating on water near ISKCON temple in Nayapalli area of the state capital where gushing water swamped homes and markets. An ambulance which had got stuck on way to a hospital was seen being pushed to a dry patch of road by locals. Some houses in Dumuduma locality built on farmland have developed cracks, locals said.

Identical scenes were witnessed in Puri, Cuttack and Paradip.

Officials said municipal authorities have deployed over 100 pumps in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack to drain out the water.

Heavy rain, triggered by a deep depression, has been battering Odisha over the last few days.

Waterlogging was reported from several areas of Bhubaneswar as the state capital recorded 195 mm rainfall in 24 hours till 8.30 am on Monday. On September 9, 1958, the city had received 163 mm rainfall, they said.

The depression over the northwest Bay of Bengal intensified into a deep depression and crossed the coast near Chandbali in Bhadrak district on Monday morning, following which the weather office issued alerts for 13 districts.

The system is very likely to move west-northwestwards across north Odisha, north Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh over the next 48 hours, the weather office said.

It issued a 'Red' warning, predicting heavy to very heavy and extremely heavy rains in Sambalpur, Deogarh, Angul, Sonepur and Bargarh.

In the last 24 hours, Puri received 341 mm rainfall, followed by Paradip (219 mm), Gopalpur (64 mm), Chandbali (46 mm) and Balasore (24 mm), the weather office said.

The Central Water Commission (CWC) issued an alert for several districts as major rivers and their tributaries swelled due to the incessant rain.

"Water levels of the Brahmani river and its tributaries are expected to rise in districts such as Angul, Deogarh, Sundargarh, Kendrapara, Dhenkanal and Jajpur. Baitarani is expected to rise in districts of Keonjhar and Bhadrak," the CWC said.

The Mahanadi and its tributaries are also likely to maintain an upward trend in Cuttack, Khordha, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Jharsuguda and Bolangir, it said.

A flood situation is expected in Odisha since the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted extremely heavy rains, the CWC alert said.

The Jalka river flowing above the danger mark in Balasore, it said.

The Office of the Special Relief Commissioner in Bhubaneswar received reports of two people dying due to wall collapse following heavy rain in Kendrapara district. "However, the reports are yet to be officially verified," an officer said.

The weather office has asked all ports to hoist cautionary signal -- III as the sea is rough.