Odisha: Two injured as AIIMS boundary wall collapses amid heavy rain

Bhubaneswar: At least two persons were injured on Monday after part of a boundary wall of the AIIMS Bhubaneswar collapsed due to very heavy rainfall, police said.

The injured were treated at the hospital, a spokesperson of the health facility said.

Several areas of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack got waterlogged during the day as heavy rain lashed the coastal region of Odisha due to a low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal, officials said.

The normal life in the twin cities was thrown out of gear since afternoon with several spells of heavy rainfall accompanied by lightning and thunder.

People were seen wading through knee-deep water, while vehicular movement was severely affected for hours, leading to congestion on several roads in the twin cities.

According to the meteorological centre here, Bhubaneswar received 186 mm of rainfall during a span of two hours in the afternoon.

The situation in Cuttack was worse as the rainwater entered houses in Bidanasi, Tulasipur and other areas.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast that the intensity of rainfall in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack would increase in the next two days.

The downpour was due to the influence of a well-marked low-pressure area over the north Bay of Bengal, which is likely to move northwestwards and concentrate into a depression during the next 12 hours.

The IMD issued an 'orange' warning, forecasting heavy rainfall in the districts of Mayurbhaj, Balasore and Bhadrak till 8.30 am on Tuesday.

It also issued a 'yellow' alert till 8.30 am on August 1 in the districts of Jajpur, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Angul, Deogarh, Sundergarh, Sambalpur, Sonepur, Boudh, Kandhamal, Rayagada, Nabarangpur and Koraput.