Bhubaneswar: India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday issued a yellow warning of heavy rain in five north Odisha districts — Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj — on Thursday and Friday.Thereafter, it issued yellow and orange warnings of heavy to very heavy rainfall in several districts, including in north Odisha, till Sept 1.Sanjeev Dwivedi, a scientist at the IMD centre in the city, said a cyclonic circulation over Bay of Bengal, trough line and other related factors would influence the rainfall activity in the state. With monsoon remaining active, more heavy rainfall is expected, he added.Former director of the regional IMD centre, Sarat Chandra Sahu, said a low-pressure area may form over the northwest Bay of Bengal by Aug 28 and influence the rainfall activity in the state. Parts of south and west Odisha are expected to receive heavy rainfall now, he added.Meanwhile, the Mahanadi river system witnessed an increase in flow from the evening, following heavy rainfall in Chhattisgarh and Hirakud reservoir’s increased outflow through 16 sluice gates since Tuesday, raising fears of inundation of low-lying catchment areas downstream.Engineer-in-chief of water resources department Dilip Kumar Rout, however, asserted that the increase in Mahanadi water flow would not create any flood situation. He said the flow at Munduli barrage downstream near Cuttack would be expected to touch 6.5 lakh cusec and pass smoothly. Such peak flow may continue for eight to 10 hours, he said, adding there was no risk of flooding in any other river.An official report said the Hirakud reservoir outflow stood at 2.86 lakh cusec by midday against an inflow of 3.52 lakh cusec. The reservoir level stood at 623.45 feet by midday against the reservoir’s full level of 630 feet.
