BHUBANESWAR: Persistent rainfall continued to disrupt normal life across Odisha for the second consecutive day on Friday as an upper air cyclonic circulation fuelled wet weather across the state.
During the last 24 hours, light to moderate rainfall occurred at most places across the state. Very heavy rainfall was recorded at one or two places in Kalahandi while isolated heavy rainfall occurred in Balangir, Cuttack, Boudh, Dhenkanal, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Malkangiri, Keonjhar, Nuapada, Sonepur, Sundargarh, Angul, Jajpur, Gajapati and Puri districts.
Narla in Kalahandi recorded the highest rainfall at 131 mm, followed by Madanpur-Rampur (117 mm), Belgaon (115 mm), Athagarh (112 mm) and Mahanga (104 mm). Other places that received significant rainfall included Salebhata (103.4 mm), Khairamal (99.2 mm), Dhenkanal (98.6 mm), Kesinga (98.4 mm) and Saintala (96 mm).
Meanwhile, Bhubaneswar bore the brunt of the downpour with incessant rain triggering severe waterlogging in a slum near the Gangua Canal bridge at Palasuni, leaving around 70 people from 30 families stranded in low-lying areas. The Odisha Fire and Emergency Service launched a rescue operation to evacuate the stranded residents and their domestic animals to safety.
Director of Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre Manorama Mohanty said that the state experienced widespread rainfall under the influence of the upper air cyclonic circulation over south Gangetic West Bengal and Bangladesh. “The system is likely to intensify into a low-pressure area over the coastal regions of West Bengal and the adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal within the next 24 hours. Thereafter, it is expected to move west-northwestwards across West Bengal, north Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh over the subsequent 48 hours,” she said.