NEW DELHI: Wayanad received extreme rainfall in the few days prior to Tuesday’s landslide, according to data released by India Meteorological Department. An analysis of the data shows that the district received as much as 7% of its entire seasonal rainfall in 24 hours (from Monday morning to Tuesday morning) and 21% of the total seasonal rainfall in the past two weeks.
The district, which had been facing deficient rainfall since the arrival of the Southwest monsoon, dramatically jumped to the ‘normal rainfall’ category due to the extreme rainfall in the 24 hours between July 29 (Monday) and July 30 (Tuesday).
For example, on July 28 (Sunday), the district received only 9 mm rainfall, which was 73% lesser than that day’s normal (32.9 mm) rainfall. In contrast, the next day, on July 29 (Monday), it received a whopping 141.9 mm of rainfall, which was 493% above the daily normal rainfall.