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NE receives deficit rainfall, some areas 50 pc less

By Staff Correspondent

SHILLONG, June 24 - Meghalaya and the entire North East have received deficit rainfall, with Meghalaya and Manipur the worst affected with over 50 per cent less rainfall than normal in the past 24 days.

Data from the Met dept shows that Meghalaya had 50 per cent deficit rainfall during June 1 to June 24. Manipur was worse with 59 per cent deficit rainfall from normal during the same period.

Assam had a rainfall deficit of 48 per cent from normal, Arunachal Pradesh 41, Mizoram 36, Tripura 33 and Nagaland received 21 per cent deficit rainfall during the same period.

The entire Northeastern region received 256.9 mm rainfall. The normal rainfall during the period should have been 383.5 mm (+/-19 per cent) during this period. Overall, the NE region received 33 per cent less rainfall.

Among the regions in Meghalaya � West Garo Hills received 69 per cent deficit rainfall, West Khasi Hills 61, Jaintia Hills 71 and East Garo Hills 47 less rainfall during the same period.

Some of the districts in Assam have been worse affected with Goalpara 80 per cent deficit, Darrang and Dhubri 83, Korajhar 82, Barpeta 71 and Morigaon 64 deficit rainfall.

There are three Met subdivisions in the region � Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

The Arunachal Pradesh sub division received deficit rainfall of 41 per cent overall. The actual rainfall was 222.9 mm in deviation from the normal rainfall of 377.9 mm in this region.

Similarly, the Assam-Meghalaya sub division received 205.1 mm rainfall and the normal rainfall should have been 397 mm. This translated to 48 per cent less rainfall during this period.

The Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura sub-division received 40 per cent less rainfall from normal. The normal rainfall should have been 321.5 mm, however, the actual rainfall was 192.9 mm during this period.

One of the reasons for this deficit rainfall is the late arrival of South West Monsoon in the country. The SW Monsoon hit the Kerala coast on June 10, a good ten days later.

However, Met officials are ruling out any deficit rainfall in the country and expecting normal rainfall in the country, stating �it�s too early� to predict as of now.

�It�s expected that the country would receive 90 per cent normal rainfall and the North East 91 per cent,� S Shaw, Deputy Director General, Regional Meteorological Centre, Guwahati said.

He cited the late onset of Monsoon in the country for the deficit rainfall in the region and in the next week or so rainfall is likely to be normal.

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