Bhubaneswar, August 6 (Odisha.in) Heavy rains over past two days lashed parts of coastal Orissa including capital Bhubaneswar, and Cuttack flooding roads, keeping people housebound and throwing normal life out of gear Sunday.
While water logging is Cuttack and Puri has forced thousands of its residents indoor, relief officials were seen moving out people living in slums and mud houses to safer places.
For people hoping for a respite, the bad news is that the situation is expected to get worse over the coming week, with the meteorological office here predicting more rain in next 48 hours.
‘Yesterday’s low pressure area over the northwest Bay of Bengal off the Orissa-West Bengal coast concentrated into a depression and lay about 230 km southeast of Balasore,’ an official of the Bhubaneswar Meteorological Office told IANS.
‘It is likely to intensify further, move in a West North Westerly direction and cross the north Orissa-West Bengal coast between Paradeep and Digha by tonight,’ he added.
This means heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely, with extremely heavy rain (more than 25 cm) at a few places in the state over Monday and Tuesday.
Warnings have been already been issued to areas expected to be worst hit – Paradeep, Chandbali, Puri and Gopalpur.
Squally winds with speeds reaching 45-55 km per hour are likely along and off the Orissa coast. Sea conditions will deteriorate from rough to very rough and fishermen are advised not to venture into the sea, the meteorological office said.