Bhubaneswar, June 16: A storm warning has been issued to all coastal districts in Orissa and its four ports have been put on alert after a depression was cited over the north of Bay of Bengal.

Yesterday’s low pressure belt over north-west of Bay of Bengal snowballed into a depression today and was hovering over the north of Bangladesh coast, around 300km east of Balasore.

The depression is likely to move in a north-westerly direction and cross Bangladesh coast today evening, said weathermen.

“Squalls with a wind speed of 45-65km per hour from westerly direction are likely to hit the Orissa coast,” said K.N. Behera, the director in charge of Bhubaneswar Met centre.

The centre also forecasted rain or thundershowers at several places in north and south Orissa. Heavy to very heavy rain at few places and extremely heavy precipitation (more than 25cm) is expected at some places in north Orissa in the next 48 hours. Isolated heavy to very heavy rain is likely to occur in south Orissa also, said Met officials.

Cautionary signal number-three has been hoisted at Chandbali, Puri, Paradeep and Gopalpur ports. As the sea condition is likely to remain rough along the Orissa coast, fishermen have been advised not to venture out into the sea.

Incessant rains for the past two days have dampened much of the state’s Raja celebrations. Celebrations were badly hit in the coastal belt, including the capital, as drizzling continuously for the second day today, confining people indoors.

The Raja special Oriya film releases also suffered a setback because people could not turn up in large numbers. Cultural programmes had to be cancelled due to rain, too. Shops and eateries also wore a deserted look.