State registers deficit rainfall during June

Surjit Kumar Dhal, Bhubaneswar, July 1: Odisha got average rainfall of 148.3 mm against the Long Term Average (LTA) of 216.5 mm registering a deficit of 31.5 Percent during June, 2019.

While Jajpur district received the highest rainfall of 253.7 mm during the month whereas Gajapati district received the lowest rainfall of 59.8 mm.

Four districts that received normal rainfall (+ 19% to – 19%) are Jajpur, Koraput, Dhenkanal and Nawarangpur.

Rainfall in 18 districts — Puri, Jharsuguda, Cuttack, Subarnapur, Bhadrak, Deogarh, Khordha, Malkanagiri, Boudh, Jagatsinghpur, Angul, Ganjam,Mayurbhanj, Bargarh, Kalahandi, Balasore, Sambalpur and Kendrapara — remained deficient between 19 per cent and 39 per cent during the month while in six districts– Balangir, Keonjhar, Nuapada, Nayagarh, Kandhamal and Sundargarh- it remained severe deficit between 39 per cent and 59 per cent during the month.

Rainfall in two districts namely Rayagada & Gajapati received scanty i.e. deficit by more than 59%.

Notably, on an average, the State experiences 9.9 rainy days in the month of June. There were 7.4 rainy days during June this year.

Going by the Block-wise rainfall data, 19 number of Blocks have received surplus rainfall (>19%), 73 Blocks received normal rainfall (+ 19% to – 19%), 90 Blocks received deficit rainfall (-19% to -39%), 85 Blocks received severe deficit rainfall (-39% to -59%) and 47 Blocks received scanty rainfall i.e. deficit by more than 59% during the month.