Naveen Patnaik takes stock of monsoon preparedness in Odisha: No threat of flood situation, say officials

Bhubaneswar: With the India Meterological Department (IMD) forecasting heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in Odisha in the next two days, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Tuesday directed district collectors to remain “fully prepared to tackle emergencies”, an official statement said. “The chief minister also asked the district authorities to ensure that the students participating in the Independence Day celebrations tomorrow do not face any difficulty, (sic)” it said. “Heavy showers lashed parts of the state on Tuesday, bringing down temperatures by a few notches and slowing traffic on the thoroughfares,” Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) BP Sethi said. “The two districts of Ganjam and Kalahandi received maximum average rainfall at 71.4 mm and 64.7 mm,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_4963531” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Naveen Patnaik. PTI[/caption] “The chief minister took stock of the rain preparedness in the districts in view of the IMD forecast. Around nine districts, including Kandhamal (49.8 mm), Sambalpur (45.3 mm), Boudh (44.0 mm) and Koraput (34.9 mm)m received rainfall in the past 24 hours,” he said. Sethi, however, stressed that all major rivers were flowing below the danger level and there was no threat of flood situation in the state for now. “Besides Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force, we have units of National Disaster Response Force prepared for handling eventualities. The collectors have been told to make decisions in view of the local situation,” the SRC asserted. In its latest bulletin, the IMD said 13 districts, including Ganjam, Puri and Cuttack, are likely to experience heavy to very heavy rainfall Tuesday. The meteorological department, in its forecast for Wednesday, also said that the northern part of the state may get affected by the showers, especially Nuapada, Balangir, Sonepur and Nayagarh districts. “The weather condition, under the influence of a low pressure, is likely to persist in the state till 16 August,” the IMD report added. A source in the SRC office said Odisha experienced an average rainfall of 23.2 mm in the last 24 hours. “With this, the cumulative average rainfall of the state from 1 June till 14 August comes to a surplus of 6.5 percent over the long-term average rainfall,” he said. “While six districts have received a surplus rainfall of more than 19 percent, 21 districts have received normal rainfall during the period. The remaining three districts - Sundargarh, Balangir and Deogarh - registered deficit ranfall by -20.6 percent, -23.5 percent and -23.6 percent respectively,” he added.