Kodagu and the catchment area of the Cauvery in the district continued to receive heavy to very heavy rain for the third consecutive day on Saturday indicating that the southwest monsoon was gaining fresh momentum in the region.
The water level at Bhagamandala and Triveni Sangama continued to rise steadily. For the first time during the season, low lying areas were marooned. However, the rainfall deficiency since June is yet to be made up.
The district received 58.17 mm of rainfall during the 24-hour period ending 8.30 a.m. on Saturday and the cumulative rainfall since January is 541.5 mm. The rainfall was widespread and uniform. Madikeri taluk registered 79.55 mm of rainfall, Virajpet received 57.82 mm and Somwarpet recorded 37.13 mm on Saturday.
The catchment area of Cauvery continued to receive heavy rains for the second consecutive day and Bhagamandala recorded a high of 117 mm of rainfall.
The other places with heavy to very heavy rainfall were Madikeri Kasaba (80 mm), Napoklu (74.2 mm), Sampaji (47 mm), Virajpet Kasaba (83 mm), Hudikeri (44.5 mm), Srimangala (80.8 mm) Ponnampet (70.6 mm) and Shantalli that recorded 90 mm of rainfall on Saturday. The rainfall in the area was heavy even on Friday and Bhagamandala had recorded 101.2 mm, while Srimangala received 38 mm and Shanthalli recorded 43 mm.
Notwithstanding the spell of moderate to heavy rains duringin the last 24 hours, the overall scenario is far from normal. The cumulative rainfall for Kodagu district from June 1 to July 5 is 365 mm which is 54% below normal, according to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC).
The taluk-wise rainfall for the same period is also below normal. Madikeri has received a cumulative rain of 446 mm which is almost 60% below normal, Somwarpet has received 206 mm of rain which is also 60% below normal and Virajpet with 390 mm of cumulative rains during the current season has a 40% deficit, as per KSNDMC records.
