Bhubaneswar, Aug. 14: Forecasting heavy rainfall in interior parts of the state over the next 24 hours, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) today issued thunderstorm and lightning warning for 18 districts of Odisha.
"Heavy rainfall is likely to occur in one or two places in the interior parts of Odisha during the next 24 hours," the IMD said in its bulletin.
In another warning, the Regional Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar, said thunderstorm with lightning was likely to occur in 18 districts.
People in these districts have been cautioned to stay indoors and take shelter in buildings and other safe locations as a precautionary measure. The districts where thundershower and lightning are likely to take place include Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Ganjam, Rayagada, Angul, Nayagarh, Khurda, Cuttack, Puri, Kandhamal, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Noapara and Dhenkanal.
Sources in the IMD said rainfall had occurred in many places with heavy rainfall at one or two places in Odisha.
The chief amounts of rainfall recorded in centimetre are Malkangiri, Mandira Dam in Sundargarh district (11cm each), Rayagada (9cm), Daspalla in Nayagarh district, Banki in Cuttack district and Narla in Kalahandi district (8cm each).
Last week, Orissa High Court asked the state government what remedial measures it had taken for minimising the alarming number of lightning casualties in the state. The court sought the reply in response to a PIL filed by Dinabandhu Mishra, an 86-year-old retired chief engineer, following 34 lightning strike deaths between July 31 and August 1.
The rate of lightning strike casualties in Odisha is the country's highest. At least 257 people have been killed by lightning strikes so far this year.
The state recorded 401 lightning strike deaths in 2015-16 and 398 deaths in 2016-17 as compared to a total of 2,000 deaths reported in the country every year.
According to the weathermen, intense heat and the presence of high content of moisture in the air resulted in more frequent lightning strikes. Most of the deadly lightning strikes took place in the state's Sundargarh, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj belt.
