BHUBANESWAR: Residents of Bhubaneswar woke up to strong winds, lighting and thunderstorm on Friday morning. The wind accompanied with rain continued for an hour from around 3.30 am in the City.
Odisha IMD said the wind with a speed of 93 km/hr uprooted huge trees in several parts of the City.
“Usually thunder squalls occur in the afternoon or evening but 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.
Met office said moisture flow from Bay of Bengal towards Odisha also enhanced the rainfall activity. As per IMD forecast, thundershower activity is expected to continue till June 1 but with varying intensity.
Thunderstorm with lightning and gusty surface winds up to 30 to 40 km/hr are likely occur at Jharsuguda, Bargarh, Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Gajapati, Ganjam and Kandhamal districts on Saturday.
Met office has issued an orange warning and predicted thunderstorm with lightning and squally winds up to 60 km/hr is expected to occur at isolated places in Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Nayagarh, Khurda and Kandhamal districts, while heavy rainfall is likely to occur at one or two places in Gajapati, Ganjam, Deogarh, Keonjhar, Angul, Dhenkanal and Mayurbhanj districts on Sunday.
Odisha Fire Service personnel on Friday cleared uprooted trees from roads and houses at Chintamaniswar, Balianta, MLA Colony, and other areas.
“Assistance was also provided to Central Electricity Supply Utility to restore power to a few areas in the City,” said a Fire Department officer.