Odisha is bracing for very heavy rainfall after the India Meteorological Department issued an orange alert for Mayurbhanj and Balasore districts, effective from August 29 as a fresh low-pressure system moves through the state.
A yellow warning has also been issued for 19 other districts, with the IMD forecasting isolated pockets of very heavy rain as the system tracks across the region.
The heaviest rain is expected between August 29 and September 1, with the active spell over Odisha likely to continue through September 2.
The weather department has warned of a high risk of waterlogging, localised flooding and disrupted travel in the districts placed under the orange alert.
The state has already seen several rounds of heavy rainfall this monsoon season, driven by a series of low-pressure systems forming over the Bay of Bengal.
The fresh low-pressure system driving the current spell is the latest in a series of such systems to affect eastern and central India during this year’s monsoon season.
IMD’s district-level warnings are colour-coded, with orange indicating authorities should be prepared for disruptive weather and yellow signalling a need for increased vigilance, a step below the more severe red alert.
The IMD has also issued heavy rain warnings for Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Gangetic West Bengal, east Madhya Pradesh and Sikkim through the day.
Northeastern states including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura are also under alert for heavy rainfall at isolated locations, with warnings for Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura extending across multiple days ahead.
Uttarakhand has been placed under a heavy rain warning with thunderstorms and lightning, and the IMD has forecast very heavy rainfall in the hill state between August 31 and September 1.
In contrast, Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra have no subdivision-level severe weather warnings for the day, with Delhi expected to see a maximum temperature of around 36 degrees Celsius and a minimum near 26 degrees Celsius.
Photo by McKay Savage, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (representative monsoon rain image)
