The active low-pressure area over the Gangetic West Bengal valley has weakened, and as of Thursday, it persists as a cyclonic circulation over the west-central Bay of Bengal.
Due to its influence, widespread heavy rainfall has been recorded across Odisha in the past 24 hours. The highest rainfall of 8.1 cm was recorded in the Nawana area of Nuapada district, with extremely heavy rainfall noted at five locations, according to Manorama Mohanty, Director of the Regional Meteorological Centre.
Meanwhile, a cyclonic circulation over the east-central Bay of Bengal and the adjoining northeast Bay of Bengal is moving westward. By Friday morning, it is expected to form into a low-pressure area in the same region. By September 26, it will intensify into a depression over the northwest and west-central Bay of Bengal. On September 27, this depression is forecasted to cross the north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts. As a result, heavy rainfall warnings have been issued for the entire state over the next two days, Mohanty added.
For Friday, an orange warning for extremely heavy rainfall has been issued for Malkangiri and Koraput districts. A yellow warning for heavy rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms and winds of 30-50 kmph has been issued for Rayagada, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Khordha, Kandhamal, Balasore, Nayagarh, and Mayurbhanj districts. For the rest of the state, alerts for rainfall with thunderstorms have been issued.
Similar weather is expected on Saturday, with an orange warning for Nabarangpur district, yellow warnings for heavy rainfall in five districts, and alerts for rainfall with thunderstorms in the remaining 24 districts. After the depression crosses Odisha on September 27 (Saturday), no further warnings for heavy rainfall have been issued for the state, as per the bulletin from the Regional Meteorological Centre.
SRC Directs 18 District Collectors to Stay Alert
In response to the potential heavy rainfall in Odisha, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Deo Ranjan Kumar Singh has issued warnings for 18 districts. The list includes Nabarangpur, Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Gajapati, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Ganjam, Nayagarh, Puri, Khordha, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, and Nuapada. The SRC has discussed preparedness measures with the district collectors to handle the situation.
As precautionary steps, especially for the highly affected districts like Koraput and Malkangiri, along with others, the collectors have been instructed to remain in their headquarters and vigilantly manage the situation. They have been directed to deploy fire services and ODRAF teams where necessary, and to keep drainage engineers/officials ready with personnel and equipment to tackle any flood-like scenarios. The administration is fully prepared to handle the situation, and the state government is closely monitoring developments. The SRC emphasised that there is no need for the public to panic due to rumours.
The meeting was attended by the Chief Engineer of the Water Resources Department, Chandrashekhar Padhi, the Regional Meteorological Centre Director Manorama Mohanty, the OSDMA Executive Director, and senior officials from the SRC office.
Notably, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), a low-pressure area is expected to form over the north and central Bay of Bengal within the next 12 hours. By the evening of September 26, it will turn into a depression, and by the morning of September 27, it will cross the south Odisha and north Andhra coasts. This may lead to extremely heavy rainfall in Koraput, Malkangiri, and Nabarangpur districts, with heavy rainfall in other south Odisha districts, prompting the SRC’s alert directives.
