Bhubaneswar: Forecasting severe heatwave conditions, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) Sunday issued a red alert for 15 out of 30 districts of the state for April 29. The districts are Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Angul, Dhenkanal, Nuapada, Bolangir, Subarnapur, Boudh, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Khurda, and Jajpur. Meanwhile, the state continued to reel under severe heatwave conditions with industrial town Angul recording the state’s maximum temperature of 44.3 degrees Celsius Sunday.
As many as 27 places in the state recorded a maximum temperature of above 40 degrees Celsius, of which 12 places witnessed a temperature of 43 degrees Celsius or above, a bulletin issued by IMD’s Bhubaneswar centre said. The temperature was 44.1 degrees Celsius at Boudh, followed by Baripada (44), Nayagarh, Dhenkanal (43.6), Talcher and Malkangiri (43.5), Bolangir (43.3) and Bhawanipatna (43). Bhubaneswar recorded the maximum day temperature of 43.2 degrees Celsius, while Cuttack recorded 43.7 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature would be above normal by four to six degrees Celsius at many places across the state till May 2, the IMD centre forecast said. Similarly, an orange warning has been issued for the districts of Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Rayagada, Malkangiri, Koraput, Deogarh and Bargarh.
The MeT office has advised people to take precautionary measures for hot weather while going outside between 11 am to 3 pm. According to MeT Centre, heatwave conditions are very likely to prevail in the districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Angul, Dhenkanal, Deogarh, Khurda, Cuttack, Jajpur, Boudh in the next week. Also, heatwave conditions are likely to prevail in Nuapada, Bolangir, Subarnapur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Ganjam, Gajapati, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Ja g Jatsinghpur, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Koraput, Puri, Sundargarh and Sambalpur. Thunderstorms with lightning accompanied by gusty surface wind speeds reaching 30- 40kmph are very likely to occur at one or two places over the districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, Rayagada, Kandhamal and Koraput.