Suryakant Jena

Bhubaneswar: Odisha has received a surplus rainfall of 28.9 per cent during the month of July, the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) informed.

According to official sources, during July, 2018, the State received average rainfall of 438.0 mm against the long term average (LTA) of 339.9 mm, thereby making it a surplus of 28.9 per cent.

Malkangiri district received the highest rainfall of 761.6 mm whereas 277mm in Nuapada district was the lowest in any area last month.

While Puri district registered maximum surplus rainfall of 119.5 per cent, Nuapada received the maximum deficit rainfall of 20.2 per cent for the month.

During the month of June, the state had registered a deficit of 25.6 percent as it received average rainfall of 161.1 mm against the Long Term Average (LTA) of 216.5 mm.

With severe and incessant rainfall lashing almost all parts of the state last month, the cumulative rainfall of the State in June and July reduced the overall deficit as it stood at 599.2 mm against the LTA of 556.4 mm thereby making a surplus of 7.7 per cent for both the months.

As many as 10 districts including Puri, Khurda, Malkangiri, Kalahandi, Rayagada, Cuttack, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur and Gajapati received surplus rainfall more than 19 per cent whereas 16 districts- Ganjam, Kandhamal, Bhadrak, Balasore, Sonepur, Dhenkanal, Sambalpur, Koraput, Bargarh, Boudh, Nayagarh, Jharsuguda,Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Nabarangpur and Deogarh- registered normal rainfall between (+19) and (-19) per cent during the past two months.

Similarly, four districts- Angul, Bolangir, Sundergarh and Nuapada recorded deficit rainfall of 19 & 39 per cent in the month of June and July respectively.

While the State normally experiences 15.4 rainy days in the month of July, there were 15.6 rainy days in July this year.

In terms of block-wise rainfall distribution, 103 blocks have received surplus rainfall of more than 19 per cent, 149 blocks received normal rainfall between (+19) and (-19) percent, 44 received deficit between (-19) and (-39) per cent whereas 18 blocks received severe deficit rainfall between (-39) and (-59) per cent cumulatively during the month of June and July.

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