VIJAYAWADA: From excess a week ago, the rainfall status in Andhra Pradesh fell down to normal, with a large deficiency in rainfall since July 27. As on date, State received 12.8 per cent surplus rainfall, which is considered normal. The state received 281.2 mm rainfall in the last two months as against normal rainfall of 249.7 mm for the period. Only above 20 per cent deviation from the normal is considered excess.
In the first two months (June, July) of the current water year, rainfall in the state fluctuated between two extremes. Sometimes, it was large excess and sometimes it was large deficient. If region-wise rainfall is taken into consideration, Coastal Andhra Pradesh received less rainfall than normal, while Rayalaseema received large excess rainfall.
According to statistics with the Andhra Pradesh State Development Planning Society (APSDPS), as on August 1, out of 13 districts, eight had normal rainfall, one district had excess rainfall, three districts had large excess rainfall and one district had deficient rainfall. Visakhapatnam district has 19.7 per cent deficient rainfall. Against the normal rainfall of 331 mm, the district got only 265.9 mm.
If we look at the daily rainfall for the last one week (July 25 to August 1), it was mostly dry and deviation from the normal was far more pronounced. On July 25, it was large deficient, followed by excess rainfall on subsequent day, but again from July 27 to 30 it was large deficient and on July 31 it was deficient and again on August 1 it was large deficient. Such a situation was observed in the second week of June also.
During June, rainfall fluctuated between large excess and large deficient, leaving the farming communities in two minds: either to go for sowing or not. However, the situation turned for the better in July and in the first three weeks of July. Thereafter, it has been mostly dry and IMD predicts the situation will continue for another week, with light rains at a few places in the state.
According to ‘AP weatherman’ Sai Praneeth, in the last 200 years, Rayalaseema received fifth highest rainfall for June-July this year. The region received 79.5 per cent surplus rainfall. As against normal rainfall of 166 mm, it received 298 mm.The highest rainfall for the period in the region was 388 mm (133.7 per cent deviation) in 1989, followed by 324.8 mm (95.7 per cent deviation) in 1996, 307.7 (85.4 per cent deviation) and 300.6 mm (81.1 per cent deviation) in 1893.
Speaking to TNIE, he said going by the rain data for the last seven years (from 2015), Rayalaseema region is doing better than Coastal Andhra Pradesh during June-July for the last two years. This water year till date, Rayalaseema had 79.5 per cent surplus rainfall, while Coastal Andhra Pradesh received 7.2 per cent deficient rainfall. The year before, it was the same case.
Rayalaseema had 67.5 per cent surplus rainfall, while coastal AP had only 8.8 per cent surplus rainfall. In the last seven years, 2018 was the worst year (June-July) for both the regions, as both experienced deficient rainfall. Coastal AP had 35.3 per cent deficient rainfall while Rayalaseema saw a deficient rainfall of 48.2 per cent in 2018.