Monsoon appears to have lost steam in the State two months after setting in. Only three out of 30 districts in Karnataka have received ‘normal’ rainfall in August.
The number of districts that received ‘scanty’ rainfall in August was nine — up from nil in June and July, while 18 districts received ‘deficient’ rainfall during the same month, according to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Management Centre (KSNDMC).
Even those districts that received normal or excess rainfall in July and June, such as Hassan and Mysuru, slipped into the categories of having received deficient or scanty rainfall by August.
The KSNDMC pitted all 30 districts into four categories based on the amount of rainfall — excess, normal, deficient, scanty — in comparison with the average normal rainfall each district received in the last 50 years. Most districts in Karnataka progressively landed in the last two categories by August.
This is uncommon, as the State usually receives good rainfall during August, said G.S. Srinivas Reddy, Director of KSNDMC. “This year, only the north-interior parts of the State got good rainfall. During the last week, these parts received very heavy rainfall due to a depression in the Bay of Bengal,” he said.
In July, 11 districts mostly in southern Karnataka, including Bengaluru Urban and Rural, Kolar, Tumakuru, and Chamarajanagar received excess rainfall. Only eight districts were categorised as having received deficient rainfall. But these districts are part of the belt that traditionally receive a good amount of rainfall, such as Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru, Dakshina Kannada, and Udupi. The picture was even better in June, wherein 18 districts received excess rainfall, 11 normal rainfall, and only one had deficient rainfall (Belagavi).
