Entire western half of country in rain deficit

Only five more days are left for July to end, and the entire western half of the country is left wallowing in serious rain deficit.

Saurashtra and Kutch is the worst-hit meteorological subdivision with a deficit of 77 per cent. Chandigarh and Delhi follow with 70 per cent. Punjab at 66 per cent; Wes Rajasthan 63 per cent; and east Gujarat at 54 per cent rounds off the category.

OVERALL DEFICIT

West Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are the two subdivisions with the smallest deficit of 22 per cent each. East Madhya Pradesh is now in the ‘normal’ category.

The deficit for the country as a whole stays at 22 per cent as on Wednesday. North-west India leads with 39 per cent after having improved its position from 42 per cent till the other day.

Central India, which received most of the rain throughout the most active spells of the monsoon over the past week, is still left with a deficit of 22 per cent.

BAD IN SOUTH

The situation over south peninsula has deteriorated to 24 per cent and that of east and north-east India to nine per cent. Fresh rains have been forecast for central India over the next few days, but hardly any gains are indicated for either northwest India or central India.

Meanwhile, India Meteorological Department (IMD) statistics showed that the monsoon rains were 20 per cent below average in the week to July 25. The shortfall was 22 per cent during the previous week.

>vinson.kurian@thehindu.co.in

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