Sanjeev Kumar Patro

Bhubaneswar: With the pilgrim city all decked up for the annual World famous car fest tomorrow, it seems rains will also have a day out on the town on the big day.

The latest weather models forecast nil precipitation on July 4. However, Skymet models show around 1-2mm (light) rainfall in Puri on the D-day. But with Sun and clouds playing hide and seek game as if to have a glimpse of the annual fest, the humidity level will rule high at around 80 per cent in morning and evening hours, the models suggest.

As the humidity level is predicted to remain at around 80 per cent tomorrow, and with the wind from South-Southwest to have a speed estimated at over 20 -24 Km/hour from noon, the met models have cautioned the probability of thunderstorm at around 4PM to 8 PM.

The state of weather for the pilgrim town tomorrow is a sort of alert for the mandarins monitoring the annual fest. Since the congregation is estimated at around 12 lakh, the district administration has to arrange for the measures to beat the dehydration of such a huge gathering.

Though the State boasts of having a disaster code, experts are dismayed at the State government not releasing any advisory to the devotees on the clothing they need to wear to beat humidity.

However, the State Health Department claims to have geared up to deal with any eventuality. It has put up 29 casualty centres in the city for the Yatra. As many as 10 such centres are set up on the Grand road and 11 other along the Rajpath, informed State Health Minister Naba Das.

"The city hospital and community centres have electrolytes stocks. I have asked volunteers to carry such sachets along with first aid equipments on the Grand road," Das added.

As per Puri District Collector Balwant Singh, the city administration has made necessary arrangements to deal with dehydration syndromes owing to high humidity level. "PHED officials and volunteers have been asked to provision sufficient water for the devotees. Also, more water sprinklers have been supplied to volunteers this time," he added.

scrollToTop