BHUBANESWAR: Several parts of Odisha, particularly the coastal districts, received heavy rainfall over the past 24 hours, triggering widespread waterlogging in low-lying areas.
As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Puri bore the maximum brunt of the downpour, recording the highest 86.6 mm rain in the last 24 hours.
The state’s average rainfall for the past 24 hours stood at 11.7 mm rains against a normal of 11.3 mm, marking a marginal 3 pc departure. After Puri, Jagatsinghpur received the maximum rains at 62.5 mm (+702 pc), followed by Kendrapara 44.1 mm (+589 pc), Koraput 29.2 mm (+167 pc), Khurda 23.2 mm (+164 pc), Cuttack 15.6 mm (+70 pc), Malkangiri 28.5 mm (67 pc) and Jajpur 15.3 mm (+62 pc).
Among the places in Puri district which received the maximum rainfall include Satyabadi 105 mm, Gop 96 mm, Nimapara 88 mm and Puri town 86.6 mm. Other places which experienced significant rainfall activity are Balikuda 98.4 mm, Kendrapara 92 mm and Bari 80 mm.
The incessant heavy rainfall in Puri in the last two days prompted the Odisha Fire Services department to deploy high-capacity pumps to tackle severe waterlogging in areas such as Saradha Bali, Balagandi High School, Hotel Nayak Plaza, Bholanath Vidyapitha, Medical Chhak, Matitota, railway station, Mangalaghata, Ballav Matha, Jagannath Ballav Parking and others.
Traffic movement towards Puri was severely affected, with extremely heavy inflow from Uttara and Bhubaneswar. Incessant rains and huge rush slowed communication considerably, leading to waiting times of 1.5 to 2 hours on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.
In Twin City Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, dewatering was carried out at various locations like Satya Vihar, Hanspal, Pahala, Gopalpur and Sikharpur.
Across the state, the fire personnel responded to 36 monsoon-related emergency calls through 33 fire stations. Meanwhile, the regional met office said the low pressure area over western parts of Gangetic West Bengal and adjoining north Jharkhand become less marked on Saturday. The met office has forecast heavy rainfall in parts of the state for the next two days.