Bhubaneswar: The Regional Meteorological Department here issued a thunderstorm warning for 15 districts across Odisha and advised people to remain alert between 7.30 am to 11.30 am today.
As per the latest forecast, thunderstorm accompanied with hail and gusty surface wind reaching a speed of 50 to 60 kmph is likely to occur in Dhenkanal, Angul, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Khurda, Puri, Nayagarh, Boudh, Sonepur, Sundergarh and Jharsuguda.
In a related development, a house was gutted in fire while one person was left critically injured after lightening struck him at Jhanajhana village under Hatadihi block in Keonjhar district. The injured has been rushed to a nearby hospital.
A cloud mass had formed near Odisha-West Bengal border yesterday. It is now moving towards the south triggering rains in those parts.
---IMD Bhubaneswar Director, Sarat Chandra Sahu
"The cloud mass has already travelled through Balasore, Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar and is now moving towards south due to which Bhubaneswar and Cuttack have been witnessing heavy rains since morning. The cloud mass is likely to move towards Puri now and then to the Bay of Bengal," said Sahu.
"I have been facing a lot of problems since morning due to the rains. Regular commuters like me are left in lurch since auto-rickshaws and other public transports have remained off the roads due to strong wind and lightning," said a student.
"I came to open my shop in the morning and got totally drenched. However, the rain has been a great respite from the scorching sun," said a businessman in Cuttack.
On the other hand, mercury levels crossed the mark of 40 degree Celsius at five places in the State on Tuesday. Bolangir recorded the highest temperature at 42 degree Celsius. As per the weather office, monsoon would hit Odisha in the second week of June.