The southwest monsoon is running behind its September 1 withdrawal schedule and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted heavy rainfall in east Rajasthan, west Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat in next two-three days.
On Saturday, the all India rainfall stood 4 per cent above normal with only east and North-East India showing a deficit among the four main geographic regions. It was 21 per cent above the normal in central India, 10 per cent above the normal in south peninsula; but minus 9 per cent in North-West India. India recorded 835.2 mm rainfall as against the normal of 801 mm.
According to IMD officials, the rainfall activity over most parts of the country may start to lose intensity from September 19-20. The withdrawal commences from the western parts of Rajasthan, at times simultaneously covering Punjab, Haryana, and J&K.
“There is no set pattern, date or pace of the withdrawal process. The withdrawal is usually seen in the second half of September. Before declaring withdrawal date, there should be cessation of rain over an area for a total of five days. Another factor is the formation of an anti-cyclone in the lower levels, along with drop in humidity levels, increase in temperatures, and reduction in clouding,” the IMD said.
In fact, this season saw many events of flooding in Bihar, UP, MP, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala.
As per IMD data of the 683 districts, 436 have received either normal or above normal rainfall while 242 have recorded deficient monsoon. “The weakening of El Nino during early July and the consistent shifting of the monsoon trough between south and central India regions hugely benefited the overall rainfall this season,” officials said.
Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura received less rain. Due to change of weather pattern, east Rajasthan recorded 47 per cent more rainfall, while west Rajasthan received 19 per cent above the normal rain this year.
West Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat recorded above excessive rainfall so far. West MP recorded 55 per cent above rainfall while Gujarat recorded 35 per cent above rainfall.
According to the Agriculture Ministry data, kharif crop sowing was 14 per cent less this year due to erratic weather or rainfall. Rice plantation was recorded one lakh hectare area less as compared to the last year while pulses sowing also recorded 3.74 lakh hectares less this year.
Reservoirs in seven States still hold less water than their normal storage capacity. These States are Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Nagaland, Tripura, and Chhattisgarh. The situation at Omkareshwar dam in Madhya Pradesh and Yeldari dam in Maharashtra was grim with zero per cent live storage, while seven others have less than 50 per cent storage.
