IMD forecast heavy rain in Odisha coastal districts over next 48 hours

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday forecast heavy rainfall in several coastal districts of Odisha as the low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal intensified into a depression.

Tuesday's low pressure area over southeast Bay of Bengal and adjoining Andaman and Nicobar Islands moved west-northwestwards, concentrated into a depression and lay centred over Westcentral Bay of Bengal, about 510 km southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 650 km south-southeast of Paradip (Odisha) and 790 km south of Digha (West Bengal) at 8.30am, the IMD said in a bulletin.

IMD DG Mrunjay Mohapatra said the system is likely to initially move northwestwards, then north-northwestwards and intensify into a deep depression over Westcentral Bay of Bengal off Andhra Pradesh coast on Thursday morning.

"Thereafter, it would re-curve north-northeastwards and reach over Northwest Bay of Bengal off Odisha coast on November 17 morning and off North Odisha-West Bengal coasts on November 18 morning," the IMD DG said.

Meanwhile, cloudy sky prevailed in most of the coastal region while some parts of southern region received light rains.

The IMD issued heavy rainfall warning (7 to 11cm) at one or two places over the districts of Puri, Kendrapada, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak, Balasore on November 16.

Orange Warning (Be Prepared) of heavy to very heavy rainfall (7 to 20cm) is very likely to occur at one or two places over Balasore and Bhadrak districts on November 17, the IMD said.

Keeping the IMD forecast in view, Odisha's Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) has requested fishermen not to venture into the sea from November 15 to November 18 as it will remain rough to very rough due to 40kmph to 70 kmph winds.

The state's agriculture department has issued an advisory for farmers suggesting them to harvest matured paddy and other crops. The department also urged vegetable growers to take precautions to protect their standing crops.