On Wednesday and Thursday, heavy rain is expected over Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha, Gujarat, Konkan, Goa, and the Western Ghats in Maharashtra due to an atmospheric depression over coastal Odisha, the India Meteorological Department warned on Tuesday.
"Extremely heavy rain will continue over central India over the next 2-3 days as the depression moves west-north-westwards across central India up to Gujarat and the Konkan region," M Mohapatra, director general of IMD, said.
"Due to the low-pressure system over Odisha, winds from the Arabian Sea have strengthened, causing extremely heavy and widespread rain in the Konkan region."
The weather bureau on Tuesday issued a red alert for central India, stretching from Odisha to Maharashtra and Goa, and an orange alert for the region on Wednesday. These warnings are for local authorities to take action to prevent disasters due to extreme rainfall.
The monsoon trough, a stretch of low-pressure area from Pakistan to West Bengal, is active and lying south of its usual position, the weather office said, which indicates heavy rainfall over central India.
A low-pressure area over coastal Odisha and the northwest Bay of Bengal moved slowly west-north-westwards and developed into a depression that lay centered about 70km north-northwest of Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, the agency said.
"We can expect intense rainfall over central India as the low-pressure area intensifies," said Ananda Das, IMD's cyclone expert.
Cuttack, Bolangir, Boudh, Balasore, Bhadrak, Dhenkanal, Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh, and Subarnapur were also issued orange rain warnings. Fishermen have been advised not to venture off the coast until Thursday due to the possibility of squally weather with wind speeds of 45-65 kmph over the northwestern Bay of Bengal.
