Bhubaneswar enveloped by fog; flights diverted, trains delayed

Bhubaneswar: New Year dawned with a thick blanket of fog across the state capital and several other cities plunging visibility to as low as 50 metres and triggering intense cold conditions that disrupted life. The fog, which persisted until late in the morning, severely hit flight and train operations as well as road traffic. Five flights bound for Bhubaneswar were diverted and several others were delayed, official sources said.Director of Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) Prasanna Pradhan said the airport was not operational for 4 hours from 6 am to 10 am. Five Bhubaneswar-bound flights, three from Delhi and one each from Bangalore and Chennai, were diverted to Raipur and Kolkata. He said the departure of some more flights was delayed following poor visibility due to dense fog. Flight services were gradually normalised after 10 am onwards. A flight to Dehradun was delayed by 4 hours due to poor visibility, he added.Several north-bound trains, along with intercity and local trains, were running late on Thursday due to dense fog. New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express reached Bhubaneswar on Thursday 7 hours 27 minutes late. ANVT (New Delhi)-Puri Purushottam Express reached Puri 11 hours 14 minutes late. ANVT-Puri Neelanchal Express arrived at Puri at 4.44 am on Thursday instead of 5.55 pm on Wednesday, said official sources.Similarly, traffic in the city and on the national highways passing through the state capital and other towns witnessed restricted driving due to fog conditions. A ferry inside the Chilika lake got stranded due to dense fog. “It was very challenging to drive on the highway due to dense fog. I got delayed in reaching my office,” said Sarthak Das, a govt employee commuting daily from Phulnakhara.An IMD bulletin said Nayagarh, Angul, Sambalpur, Talcher, Dhenkanal and Boudh experienced very dense fog, reducing visibility to below 50 metres. Besides, Bhubaneswar, Paradip, Khurda, Keonjhar, Paralakhemundi, Hirakud, Sonepur and Phulbani also witnessed dense fog. IMD sources said that an orange warning of very dense fog would continue in 11 districts during the next 4 days from Friday. Those districts are Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Kendrapara, Angul, Dhenkanal, Sonepur, Boudh, Nayagarh, Jajpur, Cuttack and Khurda, said an IMD bulletin.A yellow warning of dense fog was expected in some more districts, including Kandhamal, Gajapati, Ganjam, Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Balasore, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh, during the period. Scientist and head of the regional IMD centre Manorama Mohanty said wind patterns, availability of moisture and other related factors supported the continuation of dense to very dense fog in the state, accompanied by cold conditions.She said night temperatures dropped by 2°C to 6°C from normal in coastal areas and parts of north interior pockets in the last 24 hours. She said minimum temperatures at 14 places hovered below 10°C. Hill station Daringibadi, at 7.5°C, was the day’s coldest in the state, followed by Jharsuguda’s 7.8°C. The city recorded 12.7°C.