The southwest monsoon is likely to hit Odisha on Friday, after a delay of about 10 days, a senior MeT official said on Thursday.
"Conditions are now becoming favourable for the arrival of moonsoon in Odisha, which is expected to cover several parts of the state in the next 24 hours," Director of Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre, H R Biswas said.
Movement of a cyclonic circulation and formation of a low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal is facilitating the process, and it will pave way for arrival of monsoon in the state, he said.
Several places in Odisha, including Bhubaneswar and districts like Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Khurda, Balasore, Jagatsinghpur and Mayurbhanj have experienced pre-monsoon rains since Thursday morning, the MeT office said.
Meanwhile, the Odisha government has preponed the date for reopening of schools to Friday from June 26, as the mercury dipped following the pre-monsoon showers.
"Keeping in view the change in weather condition, the government has announced to reopen schools (after the summer vacation) from Friday," School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash told reporters here.
The government had earlier fixed the reopening date as June 26 in view of the heatwave sweeping across the state.
Asked about the students in Puri district, where as many as 2,134 schools were damaged in cyclone Fani, the minister said, "Many schools have been repaired. The students of badly damaged schools may have to go to nearby institutions till repair work is complete."
A total of 6,498 schools were damaged in the super cyclone that ravaged 14 districts of Odisha, an official said.
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