Bhubaneswar, Oct 2: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday issued a ‘Red Warning’ for several districts of Odisha, predicting scattered heavy to very heavy rainfall, along with isolated extremely heavy downpours over the next 24 hours.

These weather conditions are expected to be accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning, and strong surface winds blowing at speeds of 40 to 50 km/h, with gusts reaching up to 60 km/h in one or two areas.

According to the IMD, a Deep Depression over the west-central and adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal is currently affecting the weather conditions. As of 8:30 am today, the system was positioned near latitude 18.0°N and longitude 85.6°E, about 160 km south-southeast of Gopalpur, 170 km east of Kalingapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 200 km south of Puri (Odisha), 250 km east-northeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), and 280 km south-southwest of Paradip (Odisha).

Moving north-northwest at 13 km/h, the system is expected to make landfall along the Odisha and adjoining Andhra Pradesh coasts between Gopalpur and Paradip by tonight (October 2).

In its midday weather bulletin, the IMD reiterated a ‘Red Warning’ for scattered heavy to very heavy rainfall, including isolated extremely heavy downpours, accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning, and gusty winds of 40–50 km/h, with gusts reaching up to 60 km/h. The districts expected to be affected are Puri, Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput, Ganjam, Kalahandi, and Kandhamal.

Additionally, the IMD has issued an Orange Warning for isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall, accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning, and gusty winds, for the districts of Jagatsinghpur, Khurda, Cuttack, Nayagarh, Dhenkanal, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Balangir, Subarnapur, Boudh, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak, Angul, Jajpur, and Kendrapara. Winds in these areas are expected to reach speeds of 40–50 km/h, with gusts up to 60 km/h.

A Yellow Warning has also been issued for Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Bargarh, and Nuapada, forecasting isolated heavy rainfall, thunderstorms with lightning, and winds ranging from 30 to 40 km/h within the next 24 hours.

For October 3, the IMD has issued a mix of Orange and Yellow Warnings, predicting isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms and gusty winds of 30–40 km/h across several districts in Odisha.

Looking ahead, the IMD has forecasted no weather warnings for Odisha for the five days following October 3.