Odisha receives deficit rainfall of 31.5% in June

Bhubaneswar, July 1 (IANS) Odisha experienced a rainfall deficit of 31.5 per cent in June this year, the office of the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) said on Monday.

Odisha got average rainfall of 148.3 mm against the Long Term Average (LTA) of 216.5 mm, registering a deficit of 31.5 per cent in June.

Out of 30 districts, Jajpur district received the highest rainfall at 253.7 mm during the month while Gajapati district received the lowest rainfall at 59.8 mm, said the SRC office.

Rainfall in 6 districts -- Balangir, Keonjhar, Nuapada, Nayagarh, Kandhamal and Sundargarh -- showed a severe deficit of between 39-59 per cent during the month.

Rainfall in 2 districts Rayagada and Gajapati was short by more than 59 per cent, the SRC office said.

Rainfall in 18 districts, namely Puri, Jharsuguda, Cuttack, Subarnapur, Bhadrak, Deogarh, Khordha, Malkanagiri, Boudh, Jagatsinghpur, Angul, Ganjam, Mayurbhanj, Bargarh, Kalahandi, Balasore, Sambalpur and Kendrapara showed a deficit of between 19-39 per cent during the month.

Four districts Jajpur, Koraput, Dhenkanal and Nawarangpur received normal rainfall in June.

On an average, Odisha experiences 9.9 rainy days in the month of June. However, there were only 7.4 rainy days during June this year.

Going by the block-wise rainfall data, 19 blocks have received surplus rainfall, 73 blocks received normal rainfall, 90 blocks received deficit rainfall, 85 blocks received severe deficit rainfall and 47 blocks received scanty rainfall during the month.

The average rainfall of the state recorded on July 1 for the last 24 hours was 9.9 mm. Six blocks have recorded rainfall of more than 50 mm.