By Orissadiary Correspondent

Bhubaneswar: Normal life was on Saturday badly affected due to unprecedented rain following a depression over the Bay of Bengal. The low-pressure area, which developed yesterday over the west-central Bay of Bengal intensified into a depression and lay centred about 400 km south of Paradip, meteorological department sources here said.

Weather officials manning the IMD office here are forecasting downpour at some places in the next two days. Heavy to very heavy rains were likely to occur at isolated places over the coastal areas in the next 48 hours and thundershowers at some places in interior Orissa, they said.

Squally winds with speeds ranging from 45 kmph to 55 kmph were likely to prevail along and off the Orissa coast, while the sea would remain rough under the impact of the formation, which was expected to further intensify and move slowly in a northerly direction, the sources said. The Cyclone Warning Centre here advised fishermen not to venture out into the sea.