Low pressure over Bay of Bengal to turn into depression; IMD forcasts very heavy rain in seven Odisha districts

A low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a depression by late Sunday night and it is expected to bring extremely heavy rains over parts of Odisha and Chhattisgarh during the next two days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. The IMD has also issued a red-colour coded alert to Odisha and Chhattisgarh for 13 September, cautioning that the states are expected to witness heavy rainfall activity. The IMD issued Red warning for Puri, Khurda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Dhenkanal and Nayagarh districts. Orange warning (isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall) for six districts and Yellow warning (isolated heavy rainfall) for eight districts. The IMD cautioned that the districts for which Red warning was issued may encounter flash flood/waterlogging, inundation in low lying areas, damage to informal/kutcha roads, wall collapses and occasional reduction of visibility causing traffic congestion in urban areas. The IMD suggested the state government keep arrangements for drainage of excess water and avoid movement in affected areas in the seven districts. Orange warning is issued for the districts of Ganjam, Kandhamal, Boudh, Angul, Jajpur, and Bhadrak while the districts of Kalahandi, Bolangir, Sonepur, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Balasore get Yellow warning. The IMD advised fishermen not to venture into sea along and off the Odisha coast, north and west-central Bay of Bengal from 12 to 14 September and those in the deep sea areas are advised to return to the coast by Sunday night as the squally weather with wind speed reaching 45-55 kilometres per hour gusting 65 kmph will make the sea condition very rough. In another bulletin, the IMD said light to moderate rain/thundershower has occurred at most places over Odisha particularly districts such as Jagatsinghpur, Nawarangpur, Angul, Rayagada, Sundergarh and Kalahandi. Meanwhile, Special Relief Commissioner P K Jena in a letter to district collectors asked them to remain prepared for the eventuality in wake of the IMD warning. He said block development officers, tehsildars and other field staff should keep vigil in low-lying areas, arrange for dewatering wherever required and ensure that control rooms function round the clock. “A well marked low pressure area lies over northwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal. It is very likely to move west-northwestwards and concentrate into a depression over northwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining areas of north Odisha-West Bengal coasts during next 12 hours,” the IMD said on Sunday afternoon. It is very likely to move west-northwestwards across north Odisha and north Chhattisgarh during subsequent 2-3 days, it added. “Isolated extremely heavy rainfall activity (is likely) over Odisha and Chhattisgarh during next two days,” the IMD added. The IMD said isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall activity is very likely to continue over Gujarat, north Konkan, north central Maharashtra and east Rajasthan during next five days. Isolated heavy falls are also very likely over coastal and south interior Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal and Kerala during the next three days, it said, adding isolated very heavy falls are likely over coastal Andhra Pradesh on 12 September and Telangana on 13 September. The IMD added that isolated to scattered rainfall activity is likely over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh during next five days. Fairly widespread to widespread rainfall activity with isolated heavy falls is likely over Uttarakhand from September 12-16, it added. With inputs from PTI