Odisha is likely to get rainfall this week, a weather forecast said. As per the India Meteorological Department, rainfall and thunderstorm activities are likely in parts of Odisha till August 15, Saturday.
Lightning and gusty winds reaching 30–40 km/h may occur at isolated places over a large number of districts across the state, including coastal, northern, and southern regions, the Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar has warned.
Odisha's Revenue and Disaster Management Ministry has advised that people, particularly those living in the northern and interior parts of the state, should remain vigilant. Most of the rivers were flowing below the warning level, even as the water level in three rivers — Jalaka, Vansadhara, and Rushikulya — was rising. The arrival of a low-pressure system comes when floodwater is still standing in certain pockets of the north Odisha districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, and Jajpur, the ministry reminded.
Earlier, the IMD had issued an "orange warning" for heavy to very heavy rainfall for some places over the districts of Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Bargarh, and Sambalpur by 8.30 am on Sunday. It also forecast heavy rainfall in the remaining 26 districts, news agency PTI reported. The IMD had also forecast that thunderstorms, accompanied by lightning and gusty surface winds with speeds of up to 30–40 km/h, are expected to occur in the state on Friday.
The ODRAF, NDRF, and Fire Services are on standby if the need arises. The state government had earlier decided to install 360-degree surveillance cameras along the coastline to augment its weather monitoring systems, Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said. The minister stated that the state would modernise all 122 Early Warning System towers installed along Odisha's 573-km coastline by equipping them with 360-degree surveillance cameras.
