Heavy rain triggers flood-like situation in Odisha's Malkangiri

Heavy rain over the last three days has caused a flood-like situation in southern Odisha's Malkangiri district, as large parts have been cut off due to water logging and submersion of roads, an official said on Thursday.

Road communication from the district headquarters town of Malkangiri to Balimela, Kalimela and Motu towns has been cut off, he said.

Severe water-logging was reported from different parts of the district and water was flowing over different bridges in Potteru and Kangurukonda areas, he said.

With Gora bridge under the water, communication to Andrapalli gram panchayat in Swabhiman Anchal has been affected, the official said.

With a steady rise in water levels, submersion of Gurupriya Bridge, which connects Swabhiman Anchal, a former Maoist bastion, with the rest of the state, cannot be ruled out, he said.

The Met department said that seven blocks in Malkangiri district have received an average rainfall of 943.2 mm in the last 24 hours. However, the average rainfall in the district was 134.74 mm. The flood-like situation has prevented 123 students from attending their degree examinations.

Meanwhile, the IMD forecast more rain as the cyclonic circulation over northwest Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a low pressure area in the next 24 hours.

Fairly widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy downpour is likely over Odisha in the next five days, the IMD said in a bulletin, while warning of water-logging in low-lying areas.

The Met department forecast heavy rain in one or two places in Malkangiri, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Nuapada, Nayagarh, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Dhenkanal and Angul in the next 24 hours.

The weather office issued orange (be updated) warning of heavy to very heavy rain for the districts of Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Khurda, Cuttack, Angul, Dhenkanal, Sambalpur and Bargarh on Thursday.

Similarly, heavy rainfall is likely to occur in one or two places in Ganjam, Nayagarh, Boudh, Kandhamal, Kalahandi, Bolangir, Sonepur, Nabarangpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Deogarh districts on Thursday.