‘Dana’ triggers heavy rainfall in coastal Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Heavy rain lashed several areas of coastal Odisha on Friday under the impact of severe cyclonic storm Dana that made landfall between Dhamra and Bhitarkanika in the State.

According to the Regional Meteorological Centre, here, the highest rainfall of 158.6 mm was recorded at Chandbali in Bhadrak district during the last 24 hours (8.30 am on Thursday to 8.30 am on Friday) while Rajkanika area of Kendrapara district received 156 mm rainfall.

Basudevpur in Bhadrak district, Oupada in Balasore district and Marsaghai and Rajnagar in Kendrapara district received rainfall of more than 100 mm during the period, according to the weather office. Kendrapara district received 85.9 mm rainfall during the last 24 hours while Bhadrak district recorded a rainfall of 67.1 mm. Balasore, Jajpur and Mayurbhanj districts recorded rainfall of 52.6 mm, 38.9 mm and 35 mm during the period, respectively.

The other districts, which received heavy rainfall are—Cuttack (26.5 mm), Khurda (23.7), Nayagarh (23.1), Angul (20.7), Dhenkanal (17), Puri (16.2) and Jagatsinghpur (16). The IMD has forecast heavy downpour till Saturday morning and issued a red warning (take action) for Bhadrak, Balasore, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts.

An orange warning (be prepared to take action) has been issued for Kendrapara, Cuttack, Jajpur and Dhenkanal districts for the period, the weather office said.

Besides, heavy rainfall would occur in isolated places of Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh and Angul districts, it said, while putting these districts under yellow warning (be watchful).

Cyclone Dana made landfall between Dhamra and Bhitarkanika around midnight and the process continued till Friday morning. The severe cyclonic storm, which hit the landmass at a wind speed of 110 kmph, has weakened and has become a cyclonic storm. The cyclone is likely to move northwestwards across north Odisha and weaken gradually into a deep depression during the next six hours, the IMD said.