Monsoon envelops whole State

The local Met office announced that the southwest monsoon on Sunday covered the whole of Odisha and predicted heavy rainfall in most parts of coastal districts in next 24 hours.A Met release issued in the morning said the depression, which lay centred over northwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal off south Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh on Saturday, moved northwest and crossed the Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Puri around 6.30 am on Sunday and lay centred over south Odisha about 90 km southeast of Phulbani at 8.30 am.

The system would move northwest and weaken gradually into a well-marked low pressure area during next 24 hours. Under its influence, rains orthundershowers would occur at most places over the State during next 24 hours, it added.India Meteorological Department (IMD) Bhubaneswar Director Dr SC Sahu said heavy to very heavy rainfall at one or two places over interior Odisha and heavy rainfall at one or two places over coastal Odisha would occur due to the impact of the well-marked low pressure.

Dr Sahu said Umarkote in Nabarangapur district received the highest rainfall of the day with 207 mm.The Met officials advised local fishermen not to venture into the sea as strong and squally surface wind from the southeast direction in north Odisha and from southwest direction in south Odisha coast with speed reaching 45-50 km per hour gusting 60 km per hour would prevail along and off the State coast.

Meanwhile, heavy rainfall wrecked havoc in the Mohana area in Gajapati district. Floodwaters washed away the newly-constructed Atharanala bridge on the Harbhangi river which connected Mohana town with Anugur gram panchayat of Nuagada block in the district.Due to the collapse of the bridge, several villages like Antaraba, Badasindhaba, Juba, Pindiki and Baghamari and Chudangapur panchayat under Mohana block remained cut off. Over 20,000 residents of these hilly villages were affected.