Bhubaneswar: The body of an 18-year-old woman, who was swept away while crossing a bridge over a canal in Angul district, was fished out while a man was swept away by a river in Jagatsinghpur district as heavy rain lashed Odisha Wednesday, police said.
The college-going woman, identified as Preeti Behera, was crossing a bridge over a canal with her bicycle when she was swept away. Her body was fished out on Wednesday.
Similarly, another youngster went missing after being swept away by Debi River near Machhagaon in Jagatsinghpur district, a police officer said, adding a search operation has been launched for him.
Heavy rain lashed several areas of Odisha since Tuesday, with over 100 mm of rainfall recorded in at least 25 places, the IMD said.
According to a report from India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Bhubaneswar centre, Banki in Cuttack district and Bhapur in Nayagarh district witnessed heavy rainfall of 317 mm and 210 mm, respectively, during the last 24 hours till 8.30 am on Wednesday.
Similarly, 17 places including Begunia and Bolagarh in Khurda district, Hindol in Dhenkanal, Binika and Birmaharajpur in Sonepur, Dabugaon and Tentulikhunti in Nabarangpur and Dharamgarh, Kesingha and Barla in Kalahandi district have recorded rainfall ranging from 121 to 196 mm during the period, the weather office said.
Besides, another 10 places in Odisha received downpour of 95.4 to 115 mm.
Due to heavy rainfall, water logging was reported in low-lying areas of various districts.
At least 30 villages in Boudh district remained cut off as water was flowing above the Samaleswari Nallah bridge in Kantamal area.
Similarly, a few villages in the Birmaharajpur block of Sonepur district also remained cut off from the block headquarters as water was flowing above the Ghungi Nallah, official sources said.
Meanwhile, the IMD has forecast the formation of another low pressure area in the next 24 hours. It would be the sixth low pressure area since June 28 this year.
Under the influence of the cyclonic circulation over Gangetic West Bengal and adjoining areas of Jharkhand and North Odisha, a low pressure area is likely to form over the same area during the next 24 hours, the weather office said.
The IMD centre has issued a heavy rainfall warning for Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Bargarh, Sonepur, and Bolangir districts for Thursday. Heavy rainfall activity would continue in some districts of Odisha for another two days, it said.
During the monsoon period (from June 1 to August 7), the state has recorded an average rainfall of 604.7 mm against the normal precipitation of 643.6 mm.
During the period, Malkangiri district has recorded large excess rainfall, while rainfall in Koraput, Nuapada, Sonepur and Boudh districts has been categorised as excess, according to the Met department.
Similarly, 16 districts received normal downpour and the remaining nine districts were in the deficient category.
PTI
