The Bhadrak district administration shut down all schools and anganwadi centres under its jurisdiction on Saturday in view of heavy rains induced by the deep depression passing over the district on Friday night.
Informing the same, district Collector, Siddheswar Baliram Bondar said, “Saturday is anyways a half day at work and in schools. Keeping the heavy rains in the district, we have decided to shut down all the schools and anganwadi centres in the district.”
Speaking on the preparedness Bondar said, “We have already identified the low lying areas where water logging could be an issue and have already begun the evacuation process. We have deployed, 2 NDRAF, 2 ODRAF and 1 firefighting team to cater to any exigencies.”
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted heavy rainfall in different parts of Odisha under the influence of the deep depression.
The IMD has issued a ‘red warning’ for heavy rainfall in four Odisha districts- Keonjhar, Bhadrak, Balasore and Mayurbhanj. The alert will remain valid till August 20 (0830 hours).
Squally wind speed reaching 55-65 kmph gusting to 75 kmph is likely to prevail from noon till midnight of today over North Bay of Bengal and along & off Odisha coast, said IMD. The wind speed will gradually decrease becoming 45-55 kmph gusting 65 kmph by tomorrow morning over the same region and 35-45 kmph gusting 55 kmph by evening tomorrow.