Bhubaneswar: With an associated low level circulation persisting over Odisha, very heavy rainfall is predicted at places like Umerkote in Nabarangpur district, many places in districts like Kalahandi, Sonepur, Boudh and adjoning areas of Kandhamal. The precipitation will amount to over 204 mm today.
However, the heavy rainfall will not trigger any flood, though high scale of waterlogging is predicted in low lying areas in the districts.
As per the flood bulletin released by Office of Special Relief Commissioner, rainfall amount in most river basins in Odisha has not been very significant, except Phulbani under the lower Mahanadi Basin that has recorded 10cm rainfall as on today.
The forecast says today Umerkote in the Kolab basin may witness around 20cm rainfall. Despite such a significant precipitation, there seems no flood danger as the water level is stagnant there.
The SRC bulletin reveals that water level has been measured as rising in Brahmani river at two places viz, Talcher and Panposh. And Baitarani river water level is also rising in Champua. As there are predictions of fair amount of rainfall in the upper catchment of Brahmani, near Rourkela, there is possibility of inundation in low lying areas along the Brahmani river at Panposh and Talcher.
With predictions of around 100mm rainfall in Keonjhar district today, there is likelihood of a rise in water level in the river at Champua, and as a consequence inundation of low lying area is possible, says the SRC bulletin. The State Government has alerted the district authorities of the places, it added.
As per the rain forecasts by IMD and Skymet for the week, Odisha will witness dry spell on 73rd Independence day and the spell will extend up to August 17. Fair amount of rainfall will be taking place in Odisha, especially in Gajapati, Rayagada, Ganjam, parts of Sundergarh, Keonjhar and adjoining Mayurbhanj, on August 18 and 19, the forecast reads.
Meanwhile, the live storage positions of major reservoirs in Odisha have shown improvement. The live storage position with respect to Full Reservoir Level (FRL) at Hirakud improved to 49 per cent. Except Rengali, the live storage position in other reservoirs are in the range of 46-80 per cent as on Tuesday.