By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, December 5, 2021: Several parts of Odisha were lashed by heavy rains on Sunday as remnants of cyclone Jawad, which has weakened into a deep depression, came close to the coast.

The system moved north-northeastwards at 20 kmph in the last six hours and is over west-central Bay of Bengal, 90 km from Gopalpur, 120 km from Puri and 210 km from Paradip, the Meteorological Center here said in its 1200 hrs bulletin.

It is likely to move north-northeast wards, weaken further into depression and reach Odisha coast near Puri later in the day, it said.

Rainfall of varied intensity was reported from most districts of the state, it said. Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur received heavy to very heavy rainfall.

Khalikote in Ganjam district recorded 158 mm rainfall, followed by Nayagarh (107.5 mm), Chhatrapur (86.6 mm) and Bhubaneswar (42.3 mm), it said.

Rainfall will continue till Sunday evening and gradually shift to the northern region of the state as the remnants of the cyclone move towards West Bengal.

Ganjam district received the highest average rainfall of 47.8 mm. Jagatsinghpur received 38.3 mm rainfall, followed by Kendrapara (35.7), Khurda (33), Puri (25.5), Bhadrak (21.6), Nayagarh (21.6), Cuttack (20.5).

Nuapada, Nabarangpur and Malkangiri are the only districts in the state that did not receive any overnight rainfall, the weather office said.

The state’s average rainfall was 11.8 mm, official sources said.

The beaches in Puri have been vacated as a precautionary measure, they said.

“The safety of the people is our topmost priority. Locals and tourists have been asked to vacate the beaches,” Puri’s Superintendent of Police KV Singh said.

The weather office said that squally winds packing speeds of 45-55 kmph, gusting to 65 kmph are likely to prevail along and off the Odisha coast on Sunday.

Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea along and off Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal coasts till Monday.