Bhubaneswar, July 15: The regional Met centre here has warned of heavy to very heavy showers in the state capital and the coastal and northern belts in the next 72 hours after detecting a low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal.

Met director Sarat Chandra Sahu told The Telegraph that a low-pressure area had formed over northwest Bay of Bengal off north Odisha coast under the influence of an upper air cyclonic circulation.

"The low pressure is likely to intensify in the next 24 hours and bring showers to Bhubaneswar," he said.

The Met's prediction has sparked panic among residents who have been reeling from heavy waterlogging following rain in the past three days. The civic body has also swung into action to prevent any crisis.

"We have deputed a dedicated team and made operational a 24x7 control room to address waterlogging issues. The control room received 24 calls in the past 36 hours and our officials are rushing to the sites to take appropriate steps," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

The civic body's ground level officials discovered that irregular dumping of solid waste in the drains clogged those and worsened the waterlogging situation.

"When we reached the problematic areas, we found that the drains were overflowing either because those were blocked by dumping of solid waste or encroachment on water channels," said a civic official at Delta Square.

Officials today freed the drainage channel No. 1 from thermo-cool, packaging material and polythene. Officials also demolished a 50-foot boundary wall near Mancheswar railway coach factory since it was obstructing the water flow in the drainage channel No. 3.

"These efforts are not going to yield any results since it is the duty of the people to know where to dump waste. The civic body should undertake awareness drives. At last it is the citizens who should know that drains are not dustbins. If the practice continues, the situation will worsen again," said environmentalist Alok Mohanty.