IMD predicts heavy rain, thundershowers in Odisha; state government rules out possibility of floods

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government said on Monday that there is no possibility of a flood like situation in the state, even though the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast rain and thundershower in the state in next three days, officials said. “There is no flood situation in the state as even as it has been raining in different places. The water level in all the rivers are below danger level,” an official at the Special Relief Commissioner’s (SRC) office said. The authorities of Hirakud Dam have closed all the sluice gates of the reservoir. The water level in Hirakud dam is 610.60 feet as of 9 am on Monday, against the reservoir capacity of 630 feet water, they said. [caption id=“attachment_4852231” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image. Twitter/newsworldodisha[/caption] Meanwhile, sources in the SRC office said rainfall has occurred at many places, with heavy rainfall at one or two places in the state during the last 24 hours. In its latest bulletin, the IMD said rain and thundershowers are likely to occur at many places in the districts of Keonjhar, Sundergarh, Sambalpur, Malkangiri, Koraput, Nawarangpur, Kalahandi and at a few places in other districts of Odisha on Monday. The IMD in its weather forecast of 1 August also said that rain and thundershowers are likely at a few places in the state. They said that the average rainfall of the state recorded since Sunday is 11.6 mm. Six districts have received average rainfall of above 20 mm. The districts which received good rainfall were Deogarh (24.8 mm), Boudh & Kendrapara (24.1 mm), Rayagada (22.8 mm), Khordha (22.7 mm) and Jharsuguda (20.1 mm). Average rainfall in remaining 24 districts remained below 20 mm on Sunday, it said. The average rainfall for the month of July comes to a surplus of 28.5 percent of the long-term average rainfall. Similarly, the cumulative average rainfall of the state from 1 June until 30 July this year is a surplus of seven percent over the long-term average rainfall. Of the 30 districts of the state, 10 districts have received surplus rainfall of more than 19 percent, whereas 16 more districts have received normal rainfall (+19 % to -19%) during the period from 1 June to 30 July. The average rainfall of Angul, Balangir, Nuapada and Sundergarh districts is deficit by -20.9 percent, -22.5 percent, -26.9 percent and -27.4 percent respectively.