Bhubaneswar: The residents of Bhubaneswar, who sizzled at world’s tenth highest temperature yesterday, got the much awaited relief from the scorching heat as rain lashed the locality this afternoon.
Thunderstorm with hail, lightning and light to moderate rain occurred across Bhubaneswar City as predicted by the Meteorological Centre in Bhubaneswar,
“Light to moderate rain/thundershower with lightning along with hail and storm surface wind speed reaching 30 to 40 kmph is likely to affect some parts of districts of Cuttack, Khurda (including Bhubaneswar City) Nayagargh, Puri, Jagasinghpur and Kendrapada within next three hours,” foretasted the Duty Officer of the Meteorological Centre in Bhubaneswar.
The intensity of rain and hailstorm was so severe that a Delhi-bound Vistara flight made an emergency landing at the Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar 10 minutes after taking off.
The flight, with 170 passengers on board, made the emergency landing after the windshield of the flight developed cracks following heavy hailstorm and rain.
It is to be noted here that the Sate Capital City boiled at a temperature of 45.4 degrees yesterday, which was the 10th highest temperature of the World, had been reeling under severe scorching heatwave conditions for around a month now.
On the other hand, Bhubaneswar recorded 41.3°C temperatures by 2.30 PM today. By this time Sambalpur witnessed the highest temperature with 43.4°C followed by Hirakud at 43°C. Likewise, Jharsuguda boiled at 42.9°C while Chandbali, Rourkela and Keonjhar recorded a temperature of 42.8°C, 42.3°C and 41.3°C by 2.30 PM.