Heavy rain leaves twin cities flooded

BHUBANESWAR: Intermittent heavy rain lashed the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack for several hours on Saturday.
The downpour, accompanied by thunderstorm and lightning, around noon caught residents unawares and resulted in waterlogging of roads.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted intense spells of rain for the cities, asking people to avoid movement as far as possible.“At one or two places, intense spell of 2-3 cm per hour may occur. Roads may become slippery and poor visibility may be caused. Avoid movement as far as possible. While walking, keep in mind manhole locations and uncovered wires,” the IMD warning for Bhubaneswar said.
Between 8.30 am and 1.30 pm, 20 mm rainfall was recorded at Airport area, 32 mm at Raj Bhawan and 38 mm at KIIT University area. The city recorded 43 mm rainfall on an average. Cuttack saw 25 mm rainfall.
Low pressure area to cause rain till Wednesday
A low pressure area formed over the Bay of Bengal is likely to cause heavy to moderate rain in most parts of Odisha till October 7. The low pressure area is moving very slowly and under its impact most parts of the state will get heavy to moderate rainfall till October 7. Some districts may witness intense spells, said director of IMD’s Bhubaneswar centre, H R Biswas. Remuna in Balasore recorded the highest rainfall of 97 mm and north Odisha districts recorded heavy rain on Saturday.
The IMD also issued yellow warning for heavy to very heavy rainfall likely to occur at isolated places over the districts of Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Ganjam, Angul and heavy rainfall at isolated places over the districts of Gajapati, Rayagada, Boudh, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh, Balangir, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Dhenkanal and Sonepur in the next 24 hours