Overview

• The India Meteorological Department said the well-marked low over the Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a depression within the next day, issued a red warning for extremely heavy rain in Koraput, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur, and advised fishermen to avoid deep-sea operations through August 20.
• Continuous downpours inundated low-lying areas in Malkangiri, submerged several bridges and sections of National Highway 326, stranded vehicles, and severed the Chhattisgarh link after the Chalanguda Bridge went under water.
• Officials cited additional damage including a partial collapse of the Malkangiri airport boundary wall and landslides near Kakirigumma in Koraput as the IMD logged 133 mm at Kotpad and 108.6 mm at Malkangiri in 24 hours.
• District administrations placed ODRAF and Fire Service teams on standby, closed schools and Anganwadi centres in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur, and prepared evacuations for flood-prone areas.
• The Alipore Met office forecast heavy rain across nine South Bengal districts through the week, with storms in the next 24 hours in South 24-Parganas, East and West Midnapore, Jhargram, Purulia and Bankura, and stepped-up alerts from Wednesday into the weekend for Howrah, the 24-Parganas, Murshidabad, Nadia and East Burdwan.