Bhubaneswar, July 19: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast heavy rainfall across Odisha over the next four days due to formation of a depression on Friday over northwest and adjoining westcentral Bay of Bengal off Odisha and adjoining north Andhra Pradesh coasts.
The depression lay centred about 70 km southeast of Puri (Odisha), 130 km East of Gopalpur (Odisha), 130 km south-southeast of Paradip (Odisha) and 240 km east-northeast of Kalingapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).It is likely to move northwestwards and cross Odisha coast near Puri as a depression during early morning hours of tomorrow, the IMD bulletin said.
Thereafter, it would move west-northwestwards across Odisha and Chhattisgarh and weaken gradually during the subsequent 24 hours, the bulletin added.
Squally weather with wind speed reaching 45-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph is very likely to prevail over northwest and adjoining westcentral Bay of Bengal and along and off North Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, coasts during the next 48 hours and would decrease gradually thereafter.
Under its influence of the depression, Odisha is likely to experience heavy rainfall over the next four days, the IMD said.
There is also a warning for extremely heavy rainfall in South Odisha on July 19 and very heavy rainfall across the state on July 20, said weather experts.
The IMD has advised fishermen not to venture into the northwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal and along and off Andhra Pradesh, Odisha & West Bengal coasts during the next two days due to rough sea condition.
Similarly, SOA's Centre for Environment and Climate (CEC) also predicted fresh moderate to heavy precipitation in northern and western Odisha again from Tuesday including in the catchment of major rivers like upper Mahanadi, Baitarani, Brahmani, Budhabalanga and Subarnarekha due to presence of a cyclonic circulation over north Odisha and Jharkhand which will continue till next Friday.