Bhubaneswar, September 6, 2017: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced closure of all schools in Bhubaneswar on Friday in wake of forecast for heavy rainfall. All Anganwadi Centres across the State would also remain closed and District Collectors has been directed to assess the situation and act upon as necessitated.
The CM’s announcement came after weather expert predicted that the low pressure over the Bay of Bengal intensified into a depression which may trigger heavy downpour till Friday.
“Wednesday’s low pressure concentrated into a depression and lay centred over the north west Bay of Bengal and areas, about 25 km east of Digha in West Bengal. The system is likely to move to north-west and then weaken gradually during the next 24 hours,” said Director of Bhubaneswar Regional Meteorological Centre H R Biswas.
Under its impact, rain and thundershower is likely to occur in most places in Odisha, while heavy to very heavy rainfall and extremely heavy rainfall may lash northern, southern and interior regions, Biswas said in a weather bulletin.
Squally wind with a speed of 40-50 kmph and up to 60 kmph is likely to sweep areas along and off Odisha and West Bengal coasts in the next
24 hours, it said.
As sea condition would be rough to very rough, fishermen not to venture into the sea along and off Odisha coast till Friday.
Meanwhile, life came to a standstill in most parts of the State on Thursday. Cuttack city was severely affected with two-feet high rain water flowing over the busy Badambadi road. Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) pressed into service around 150 high-powered pumps in several areas to drain out water.
In the State capital, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) deployed over a dozen teams to take keep a strict vigil in 67 wards and engaged 40 engineers to stay on high alert to deal with any eventuality.
