Odisha classifies heavy rain as State-specific disaster
Bhubaneswar, 21st Oct:The Odisha government on Friday declared the heavy rains that lashed the coastal and northern districts as a State Specific Disaster in local context. The sudden downpour was precipitated by an atmospheric depression over its coastline. As many as 25 blocks of eight districts have received very heavy rainfall ranging from 135mm to 274mm since Thursday. The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Odisha centre predicted heavy showers to continue for the next 24 hours.
An infant was reported to have died due to a wall collapse in Balasore district. Houses got badly damaged in a few blocks of Balasore and Bhadrak districts. The classification of this spell of heavy rainfall as a State Specific Disaster would enable the local administration to undertake relief measures and initiate the restoration of public infrastructure out of State Disasters Response Fund, said the State’s Special Relief Commissioner. As per the Odisha Relief Code, rainfall in excess of 124mm in a day is treated as heavy rainfall.
The Kanas block of Puri district recorded 274mm of rainfall during past 24 hours, till 8 a.m. on Friday, the highest in the state. Kanas is followed by Khunta and Gopabandhu Nagar blocks of Mayurbhanj where precipitation was measured at 217.2mm each. Chilika and Tirtol are other two blocks where rainfall exceeding 200mm has been recorded. As far as rainfall in entire district is concerned, Puri leads the table averaging 153mm. Jagatsinghpur, Balasore, Jajpur and Khordha had above 100mm average rainfall during past 24 hours. Water was flowing over a culvert in the Chandrapur block of Rayagada district, while rainwater flooded a number of villages in the state. Normal life has been affected due to water-logging in different parts of Balasore districts.
Weather Forcast : The depression over Odisha has moved towards Assam and lies as a low-pressure area. It is expected moderate to heavy rains to continue over Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. Light to moderate spells are likely over Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura along with Sub Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim.
Rain intensity will reduce over Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal but few good spells may continue for next 24 hours. Scattered light to moderate rains are also expected over Jharkhand and Bihar.
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