BHUBANESWAR: Nor'wester rains wreaked havoc in Bhubaneswar and other parts of the state in the wee hours of Friday.
The Odisha IMD said winds up to 93 km/hr occurred in Bhubaneswar for a few minutes at 4 am. Strong winds, accompanied by heavy rainfall and lightning, uprooted several trees in the city.
"Usually these thunder squalls occur in the afternoon and evening but they are also observed at other times of the day and night," said Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre Director, HR Biswas.
The rainfall activity was influenced by an east-west trough running from Punjab to north Chhattisgarh across Haryana, north-east Rajasthan and north Madhya Pradesh, he added.
In the last 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Friday, Soro recorded 68 mm rainfall, followed by Hindol 66 mm, Gop 64 mm, Basudevpur 62 mm and Cuttack 60.6 mm. Bhubaneswar recorded 36.5 mm rainfall during the same period.
The Met office said the thunderstorm activity is expected to continue till June 1 but with varying intensity.
Thunderstorms with lighting and gusty surface winds reaching up to 30 km/hr to 40 km/hr will likely occur at one or two places over coastal Odisha, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Deogarh, Mayurbhanj and Kandhamal districts on Friday.
Similarly, thunderstorms with lighting and gusty surface winds up to 30 km/hr to 40 km/hr are expected to occur at isolated places in Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Khurda, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak and Jajpur districts on Saturday.
The Met office has forecast thunderstorms with lighting and gusty surface winds reaching 30 km/hr to 40 km/hr at one or two places in coastal Odisha, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Dhenkanal, Nabarangpur, Koraput, Rayagada, Kalahandi and Balangir districts and heavy rainfall at isolated places in Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Dhenkanal, Gajapati and Ganjam districts on Sunday.