The Regional Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar on Sunday issued forecast of low to moderate rainfall for most parts of Odisha in the next 24 hours under the effect of a cyclonic circulation that persists over the Bay of Bengal.
According to IMD sources, the cyclonic circulation over Northwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal now lies over Northwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining areas of North Odisha-West Bengal-Bangladesh coasts which extends between 1.5 km and 5.8 km above mean sea level tilting southwestwards.
“Heavy to very heavy rainfall is very likely to occur at one or two places in 18 districts of Odisha. Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Khordha, Puri, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Bargarh, Dhenkanal, Sambalpur, Nuapada, Balangir, Sonepur may experience intense rainfall in next 24 hours,” said weather expert Umasankar Das.
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“However, Odisha will experience less rain during September 21-24. Therefore, no warning has been issued as heavy rain is not expected in any part of the State during this period,” said Das.
Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) has also warned people of these districts to be careful in the next 24 hours due to the expected torrential rain.
Odisha has experienced 958.5mm rain from June 1 to September 19 this monsoon so far which is 12 per cent less deficit against the long term average of 1092.8mm. While 20 districts have registered normal rain, two districts have experienced 20-30 per cent surplus rain during this period. On the other hand, as many as 10 districts have experienced 20-59 per cent deficit rainfall.
During the month of September, Odisha has so far experienced 297.3 mm rainfall which is 21 per cent surplus against the long term average rainfall of 164.1 mm.
Meanwhile, most parts of the State have registered low to medium rainfall in the last 24 hours with Sundargarh experiencing the highest of 74mm rainfall.
(Edited by Suryakant Jena)