Heavy rain hits Odisha, road traffic affected

Heavy rain lashed several parts of Odisha today disrupting normal life, even as the Meteorological department forecast more showers in many areas.

Several places in the coastal and southern region were pounded by rain, which affected road traffic due to severe waterlogging, officials said.

In Bhubaneswar, low-lying areas in Jaydev Vihar, Nayapalli, Jagamara, Acharya Vihar, Gandamunda, Baramunda, Gajapati Nagar, Shiripur and Sashtri Nagar were inundated by rain water, severely impacting vehicular movement.

Besides the state capital, the rains hit several areas in Khurda, Cuttack, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada and Nayagarh districts, they said.

Even as people were grappling with the situation, the Meteorological Centre here forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall in Malkangiri, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Bolangir, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Rayagada, Sonepur, Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Bargarh, Khurda and Nayagarh districts in the next 24 hours, under the influence of a low pressure.

Heavy rainfall is likely to occur in north and north coastal districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Balasore, Bhadrak and Sundargarh, as well as central coastal districts of Kendrapara, Cuttack, Puri, Jagatsinghpur and Jajpur till August 15, the MeT office said.

Meanwhile, the Special Relief Commissioner's (SRC) office here said that average rainfall recorded in the state in the last 24 hours was 13.3 mm.

Six districts have received average rainfall of above 20 mm, while average rainfall in 23 districts remained below 20 mm, the SRC office said.

With this, the cumulative average rainfall of the state from June 1 till date comes to a surplus of 5.1 per cent over the long-term average rainfall, it said.