BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Government on Saturday put all the districts on alert as the well-marked low pressure off its coast turned into a depression and threatened to unleash heavy showers along the catchments of major rivers over next two days.
The heavy rains, however, are unlikely to trigger any flash flood situations since most rivers are almost dry.
Located south off Puri, the system is likely to move in north westerly direction and cross the land on Sunday inducing showers to its south-western region.
The office of Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), which issued an advisory to the districts to remain in readiness, said the situation is being closely monitored in Southern Odisha districts where the downpour was heavy. Malkangiri received 320 mm rain in the last 36 hours while Gopalpur and Koraput recorded over 90 mm and 40 mm respectively on Saturday. More showers in the region are in the offing but intensity is expected to shift northwards from Sunday.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the catchments of Budhabalanga, Rushikulya and Hati would receive showers on Saturday night and from Sunday, the catchments of Lower and Upper Mahanadi will be hit by the showers.
“Model predictions show that depression may move into the land between Gopalpur and Puri, if the wind pattern remains favourable and prevails over the State for next three to four days. In such an event, rainfall activity would shift to interior and northern parts of Odisha,” Director of IMD, Odisha SC Sahu said.
While coastal Odisha may not be hit by heavy showers, interior and northern pockets are expected to get fairly widespread rainfall. The weather office said catchments of rivers Baitarani, Brahmani as well as Subarnarekha will have rain over next 48 hours.
The rainfall could range from 51 mm to 100 mm in these regions.
Under the impact of the depression, strong wind reaching a speed of 45 km to 55 km per hour may prevail over the sea but there will be no impact on the land, the IMD said. Fishermen along and off north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha have been advised not to venture into the sea during next 24 hours.
While widespread rain has been predicted till June 22 in the State, its intensity will drop a little thereafter.
Meanwhile, the Northern Limit of Monsoon (NLM) continues to pass through Raipur, Phulbani, Cuttack, Digha, Krishnanagar and Darjeeling.
The weather office said conditions are favourable for further progress of the monsoon into remaining parts of Odisha and West Bengal and some parts of Jharkhand as well as Chhattisgarh, during next three days.