Odisha gears up to face heavy rain, puts districts on high alert

The Odisha government on Thursday put the collectors of 18 districts on high alert after the IMD forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall in the state when a possible depression crosses its southern coast on September 27, officials said.

The instructions to the districts were issued through a video conference by Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Deoranjan Kumar Singh. All the collectors of the southern and coastal region participated in the conference.

The state government’s move came in the wake of the IMD's forecast that a low-pressure area is likely to form over the Bay of Bengal.

Also Read: Orange alert: Heavy rains to lash Odisha districts on September 26 & 27

“It is likely to intensify into a depression by the evening of September 26 and will cross over South Odisha and North Andhra Pradesh by September 27 morning,” the IMD said.

The system is likely to cause extremely heavy rainfall in Koraput and Malkangiri districts, while other parts of south Odisha are also likely to experience heavy showers.

Precautionary Measures and Rescue Preparedness

The district collectors of Koraput, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur have cancelled leaves of all government employees and asked them not to leave stations as the depression induced rain could cause damage and flooding.

This apart, the collectors of other districts such as Rayagada, Gajapati, Kalahandi, Ganjam, Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Balasore and Nuapada are also asked to remain prepared for the heavy rainfall activities.

The SRC told the district collectors to create awareness among the people to remain alert. The districts were also told to engage the rescue teams like ODRAF, Fire Service personnel in advance in vulnerable places as identified earlier.

“The state government is closely monitoring the situation. We request the public not to panic over the impending situation,” Singh said.

Reservoirs, Hirakud Dam and Flood Situation

Meanwhile, CS Padhi, the Engineer-in-Chief, Water Resources department, said, “All the reservoirs in the southern region are capable of containing rainwater as they are half-filled. There is no flood threat in the region even if there is heavy rain.”

He said the water level in river Mahanadi will certainly swell as 20 sluice gates of the Hirakud dam have been opened to discharge excess water from the reservoir.

The Hirakud dam is almost full with water level remaining at 529.15 feet against the full reservoir level (FRL) of 630 feet.

Padhi said that it is expected that around 6 lakh cusec of water will flow at Mundali barrange near Cuttack on Friday.

PTI