Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty wind wreaked havoc in many parts across the State on Tuesday with Phulbani and Balangir being the worst hit.
As per reports, many trees got uprooted and fell on roads disrupting vehicular movements in the Phulbani town, including areas near the Kandhamal Collector and SP offices. Besides, electricity supply was also disrupted in the entire town due to snapping of power cables. However, no casualty or injuries had so far been reported due to felling of trees.
Besides, people of Balangir district experienced similar situation due to the thunderstorm since early this morning. Several large trees got uprooted and fell on roads affecting road traffic. Asbestos and tile roofs of a few houses were blown away under the impact of the strong wind. People in several parts of the district were also experiencing power cut. The Naam Yagna mandap at Sadeipali was also blown away in the wind.
While Balangir recorded 30mm rainfall, other nearby areas like Puintala and Agalpur blocks also received 32mm and 27mm rainfall respectively.
“If the cloudy weather continues, it would harm the vegetable crop. The vegetable crop would be more vulnerable to pest attack. And once the rainwater remain in the field, it would cause damaged to the crop,” said an Agriculture official here.
The weathermen had earlier predicted that several places of coastal, north interior and south interior Odisha were likely to experience light to moderate rain on Tuesday.
“Heavy rainfall is very likely to occur at one or two places over the districts of Cuttack, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada and Puri. Thunderstorm with lightning with gusty surface wind speed reaching 30-40 kmph is very likely to occur at one or two places over the districts of coastal Odisha, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Boudh and Kandhamal,” a bulletin issued by the regional MET centre had said.