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Odisha floods: Met department issues rain alerts, CM holds aerial survey | Top points
The weather department has projected a fresh spell of torrential rain for Friday and Saturday in the eastern state.
The Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre has projected that over the next two days – Friday and Saturday – Odisha will witness a fresh spell of torrential rain, which may worsen the current flood situation in the state.
This fresh spell of rain will take place because of a new low pressure area that took shape over the northeast Bay of Bengal on Thursday morning, the Odisha wing of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, adding that fishermen should not venture off the coasts of Odisha and West Bengal for two days as the sea would be very rough.
Here are some latest updates on Odisha rain:
(1.) The weather system is expected to intensify over the northern Bay of Bengal on Friday morning, after which it would move northwestwards across the Gangetic West Bengal, north Odisha and Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand, a bulletin of the weather department said.
(2.) The department, therefore, has issued the following alerts for Friday: red alert (extremely heavy rain) for parts of Keonnjhar and Mayurbhanj, yellow alert (heavy rain) for seven districts, including Khurda and Puri, and orange alert (downpour) in 14 districts, including Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Sambalpur.
(3.) For Saturday, it has forecast heavy showers in seven districts and pouring rain in eight.
(4.) Meanwhile, chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday conducted an aerial survey of the flood hit areas in Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada and Puri, his office said, adding that relief aid will be distributed for 15 days for villages in these three districts, as well as those in Cuttack and Khordha.
(5.) Relief aid will also be provided, for seven days, to people in Angul, Bargarh, Boudh, Sambalpur and Sonepur districts, the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) further said.
(6.) The CMO also stated that the district administrations should assess the damage within seven days of the release of flood water from the affected areas. Officials should, within 15 days, provide relief for damage to homes and crops, it said.
(7.) The Assistant Section Officer (ASO) exam, scheduled to be held on August 21, has been postponed and new dates will be announced soon.
(8.) More than 4.67 lakh people across 12 districts have been affected by the floods in the Mahanadi river system due to incessant showers since last week.
(With PTI inputs)
