Monsoon deficit to widen to 12%, impact kharif crop: IMD

India’s summer rainfall deficit has widened to 10 <g data-gr-id="41">per cent</g> and is projected to rise to 12 <g data-gr-id="42">per cent</g> by the end of monsoon season next month, raising fears of a fall in <g data-gr-id="29">kharif</g> output in parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and eastern UP.

The rise in monsoon rains deficit was projected by the MeT office on Monday notwithstanding the possibility of heavy rainfall in the foothills of Himalayas over the next four days <g data-gr-id="25">tht</g> has prompted sounding of a flood alert in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and West Bengal. “The rainfall shortage is about 10 per cent as of now.

The deficit is expected to widen further to 12 per cent by the end of the season,” Laxman Singh 

Rathore, Director-General of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The MeT department has projected 16 per cent deficiency in the remaining two months of the four-month season, that is, in August and September. There is a forecast for a huge rainfall deficiency in some pockets of the country. Even though Bihar and eastern UP would receive heavy rains in the next four days, the dry spell is expected to continue after that, Rathore said.

As per IMD data, there is 48 per cent rainfall deficiency in Marathwada in <g data-gr-id="27">Maharasthra</g>, 45 per cent in north interior parts of Karnataka, 36 per cent shortage each in eastern UP and in Rayalaseema in Andhra Pradesh, 33 per cent in central <g data-gr-id="28">Maharasthra</g> and 23 per cent in Telangana.

Rathore said a Monsoon trough will bring “heavy” to “very heavy rainfall” in the foothills of Himalayas.

“The rainfall will also lead to swelling of rivers Kosi, Gandak and Ghaghara, tributaries of Ganga and all tributaries of Brahmaputra.

“This will possibly lead to flooding of plains in East Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and sub-Himalayan parts of West Bengal,” Rathore said, after a high-level meeting convened by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).