BHUBANESWAR: Monsoon is set to gain in strength with the formation of a fresh low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal on Sunday.
Most places in the state saw light to moderate rain under its influence on Saturday. It caused waterlogging in the twin cities and Puri.
The IMD rainfall report said Puri and Sonepur received 100mm and 99mm rainfall in last 24 hours. Similarly, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack recorded 36.6 mm and 27 mm rain, respectively.
Earlier in the 24 hours ending on Saturday morning, Bandhugaon in Koraput district received 150 mm rain.
For Sunday, the IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall in 11 districts. Similar weather would prevail in a few more districts on the subsequent two days. Malkangiri, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Boudh, Balangir, Ganjam, Puri and Rayagada would get very heavy rain.
The districts that are likely to get heavy rain are Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Kendrapada, Nayagarh, Khurda, Sonepur, Angul, Nayagarh , Gajapati and Bargarh.
Umashankar Das, scientist of regional IMD centre, said the intensity of rain would increase from Sunday and there would be chances of extremely heavy rain at some places on Monday and Tuesday.
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty, a senior agrometeorologist of Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology said the rainfall would support transplantation activity, which is expected to continue until the month-end.
