May pounds rain and surprise in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: May continues to baffle the weathermen. And why would it not? The two-hour pounding that Bhubaneswar received on Wednesday morning was enough to give a scare to most of the denizens. The City received close to 70 mm rain in two-hour period but the way the innocuous weather turned into a severe thunderstorm triggering massive lightning activity left people of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack scurrying for cover.

While the cloudy morning gave way to a severe thunderstorm, strong wind and deafening thunders were followed by heavy downpour leaving major roads submerged, low-lying residential areas flooded. Train movement was also hit after overhead electricity lines were snapped. Even a morning flight had to be diverted to Kolkata.A cloud mass formed over Odisha-West Bengal border was helped by incursion of moisture from Bay of Bengal.

The humid south-westerly and dry-hot north-westerly wind led to a convergence which intensified the clouding activity and helped by conditions at the lower atmosphere, it led to a thundershower, said Director, India Meteorological Department, Odisha, Sarat Chandra Sahu. The cloud movement became static over the Capital which is why it received the heavy showers. “The latent heat generated in the clouding process led to the thunderstorm activities which explain the lightning and thunder,” Sahu said.

Such has been the pattern for most part of May which has seen a considerable rise in the rainy days. According to available statistics, between May 17 and 23, average rainfall in Odisha this year stands at 28.4 mm against actual rainfall of 13.4 mm registering a 112 per cent excess. Between March 1 and May 23, the State has received over 147 mm rain against the normal of 116 m, an excess of 27 per cent.

Some of the districts have reported a staggering excess rainfall in the last week. Balasore, Bargarh and Bhadrak have reported an excess of 200 per cent whereas Gajapati, Cuttack, Jharsuguda and Kalahandi have registered an excess of 300 per cent. Deogarh recorded a 600 per cent excess over normal. Many attribute the deviation to climate change impacts.

An assessment of 2013-2017 shows that during March, the State reported deficit rainfall for at least three years. In April, the departure was negative for as many years as it was for May. On Wednesday, heavy rainfall was also recorded over north coastal Odisha including Bonth and Mahanga (90 mm), Jajpur (70 mm), Binjharpur, Balasore, Anandpur (50 mm) which showed rainfall activity was uniform across the State.

Traffic disrupted

Bhubaneswar: Heavy rains coupled with thunderstorm on Wednesday affected road traffic as well as train services in the State. The rains inundated low-lying areas and submerged many roads. Vehicular movement was also disrupted in places such as  Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri. Around half-a-dozen trains were cancelled, while about 10 were stranded at different stations.