BHUBANESWAR: A deep depression formed over the Bay of Bengal and crossed the north Odisha coast on Monday morning with pounding showers as well as record rainfall while heaping misery on people across the State.
With the rain continuing, flash floods could not be ruled out as major river catchments received heavy showers. The State Government has put the Collectors on the alert.
The pilgrim town Puri saw an 87-year record broken The last 24 hours rainfall of 329 mm was the highest single-day rain for the month of September. The showers were recorded between Sunday 8.30 am and Monday 8.30 am. The town’s earlier record was 210.8 mm rainfall on September 20, 1934.
Several places in Puri district received extremely heavy to very heavy rainfall in the last 24 hours. The State Capital Bhubaneswar recorded 193 mm rainfall during the period. It was a six-decade record again.
"Bhubaneswar has broken 63 years of rainfall record in September. Last time, the city had received 163 mm rainfall on September 5, 1958," said Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre Scientist, Umasankar Das.
Lashed by incessant rain since the wee hours of Sunday, Bhubaneswar has seen large-scale inundation of residential and commercial areas. Bhubaneswar Railway Station saw stormwater overtopping the tracks.
In Jagatsinghpur, Paradip also received extremely heavy showers and recorded 219 mm rainfall in last 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Monday. In Puri district, which recorded heaviest of showers, Astaranga recorded 530 mm, Kakatpur 525 mm, Gop 331 mm, Satyabadi 328 mm, Nimapada 302 mm, Pipili 263 mm, Brahmagiri 240 mm, Delanga 228 mm and Kanas 212 mm.
Krushnaprasad received heavy showers in the last 24 hours and recorded 179.4 mm rains. Rainfall of 204.5 mm or more in 24 hours is considered as extremely heavy, 115.6 mm or more as very heavy, and 64.5 mm or more as heavy. Meanwhile, the deep depression moved west-northwestwards and crossed north Odisha coast, close to south of Chandbali on Monday morning. It is very likely to move west-northwestwards across north Odisha, north Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh during next 48 hours.
The regional Met office has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with extremely heavy rains at one or two places in Sambalpur, Deogarh, Angul, Sonepur, and Bargarh districts, heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in Cuttack and six other districts, and heavy rainfall at one or two places in Khurda and 10 other districts on Monday.