BHUBANESWAR: As Chennai faces its worst nightmare with a 97-year-old record broken by relentless rain, the winter seems to have vanished from Odisha. The minimum temperature across the State has been at least six to eight degree Celsius above normal.
Barring a few pockets in interior districts, most parts of coastal Odisha have seen warmer nights as temperature hovered around 22-23 degree Celsius. In Bhubaneswar, the difference between maximum and minimum temperature was barely five degree Celsius on Wednesday though cloudy conditions prevailed.
The weather office, which predicted mild showers over northern and adjoining coastal pockets on Thursday, said formations of several cyclonic circulations have led to the unusual conditions across the peninsular India.
While Tamil Nadu and Pudducherry have been receiving heavy showers despite formation of a troughline which moves at a slow pace, an anti-cyclone in upper atmosphere of Odisha has been responsible for cloudy and warmer conditions.
“The wind pattern is erratic and speed is barely about five to six knots. Besides, the trough over south-west Bay of Bengal and adjoining Indian Ocean has attracted the moisture flow from this part of the country or else Odisha would have already experienced a few spells of showers,” Director of India Meteorological Department, Odisha, Sarat Chandra Sahu said.
However, a troughline over western Madhya Pradesh is likely to move eastwards and get close to Karnataka and Maharashtra over the next 24 hours. When this happens, Sahu said, the State will receive mild showers. However, the rain will last only for a day and foggy conditions could prevail too. From December 5 onwards, the IMD said, clear sky conditions will return and temperature will fall once again.
Meanwhile, heavy rains have waterlogged railway track between Villupuram and Tambaram, Chennai and Gudur Railway sections, while railway bridges on Adayar River between Saidapet and Guindy Stations in Southern Railway jurisdiction have affected train services along the Howrah-Chennai route.
As a result, a number of trains through the East Coast Railway has been cancelled, diverted and rescheduled. The railway authorities had to cancel Chennai-Howrah Mail which was to start from Chennai on December 1.
Similarly, Chennai-Howrah Mail, Chennai-Howrah Coromandel Express, Chennai-New Jalpaiguri were cancelled on Wednesday. The Howrah-Chennai Mail from Howrah, Visakhapatnam-Sainagar Shirdi Express from Visakhapatnam (December 3), Sainagar Shirdi-Visakhapatnam Express from Sainagar Shirdi (on December 4), Howrah-Chennai Coromandel Express from Howrah (on December 3) and New Jalpaiguri-Chennai Express from New Jalpaiguri (on December 4) have also been cancelled.
The ECoR authorities had to divert Howrah-Kanyakumari Express through Tiruvottiyur and Villupuram, Tiruchchirapalli-Howrah via Villupuram and Chennai Central, Bhubaneswar-Puduchery Express through Katpadi-Villupuram, Trivandrum-Guwahati via Tiruttani, Renigunta and Gudur and Alleppey-Dhanbad Express via Palam, Renigunta and Gudur. The Puducherry-Bhubaneswar Express, which was to leave Puducherry on Wednesday, has been rescheduled for December 3.
Derailed by Rain
2 Heavy rains in Tamil Nadu have waterlogged railway tracks and affected train services along Howrah-Chennai route
2 A number of trains through the East Coast Railway has been cancelled, diverted and rescheduled