Bhubaneswar: India Meteorological Department (IMD) Friday said that rainfall activity in the state will increase again on or after August 12 as a fresh low pressure is likely to be formed in north-west Bay of Bengal.
Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre director HR Biswas said, “The depression formed over the Bay of Bengal has further moved towards west Madhya Pradesh. Hence, it has no impact over Odisha now and rainfall activity will be less in the state for next two days.”
However, there are chances of increased rainfall activity, especially in north interior Odisha, after two or three days, he said.
From August 12, there will be heavy rainfall in one or two isolated places in the north interior districts – Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Deogarh, Mayurbhanj, Dhenkanal, Sambalpur, Japur and Bhadrak, Biswas said. Between August 1 and August 9 state experienced 49 per cent excess rainfall, which is highest in the country, he added.
Meanwhile, the office of the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) said that the death toll due to flood-related incidents has increased to four with report of one person from Malkangiri district dying from snake bite.
Earlier, death of three persons (one each from Koraput, Kandhamal and Kalahandi) was reported. Two of them died after being swept away by the gushing waters in Jeypore area of Koraput and in Belghar in Kandhamal district, while the third person was killed in wall collapse in Lanjigarh area of Kalahandi.
Two others – one each in Kandhamal and Kalahandi districts, went missing after being swept away by flood waters and efforts are on to trace them.
As many 43 blocks of Rayagada, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Kandhamal, Gajapati, Malkangiri, Kalahandi, Bolangir and Sambalpur districts were affected due to flood and more than 2,000 houses have been damaged.
Meanwhile, train services, which affected Wednesday and Thursday due to washing away of the ballast of 100 m of tracks on the Rayagada-Titlagarh section between Daikalu and Ambadola stations, is set to resume, ECoR official said. Railway engineers worked round-the-clock to repair the damaged line and the track fitness was given Friday at a very slow speed of 10 kmph with caution, he said.
There will be continuous patrolling of tracks, while senior officials will remain at the site to monitor complete restoration of tracks. Goods trains and an express train also plied on the track under supervision, he said, adding that efforts are on to restore complete normalcy at the earliest, he added.