The South-West monsoon rain has been concentrated in the State so far. While it has been raining heavily in Malnad, coastal areas and parts of South Interior Karnataka in the last few days, the situation looks different in parts of North Karnataka.
Roads and bridges are inundated and damages to property are reported from Madikeri, Udupi, Hassan and Chikmagalur districts. On the contrary, many parts of North Karnataka have recorded a deficit rainfall.
The cumulative rainfall for the season (June 1-July 20) and for the month at the State- and district-level is above normal. But it has been found deficient in many of the taluks in the state, according to a report by Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC).
Of the 176 taluks in the State, 42 have a recorded rainfall deficit of 20-60 per cent in this month. This figure is 25-60 per cent in 32 taluks for this season. Of the 42 taluks, 20 are in North Karnataka, the report said.
Bailhongal taluk in Belgaum, Hubli, Dharwad and Navalgund taluks in Dharwad district are the worst affected with over 50 deficit rain in July.
Parts of Gadag, Haveri, Kolar Chikballapur and Mandya are also affected.
During July, South Interior Karnataka received 50.7 mm rain as against 46.6 mm (9 per cent in excess), Malnad recorded 508.7 mm as against 392.4 mm (30 per cent more), Coastal region recorded 888.8 mm as against 763.2 mm and North Interior Karnataka received 102.2 mm as against 79.7 mm (28 per cent more).
The excess rainfall in Yadgir, Koppal and Bagalkot has shadowed the deficit rain in others part of North Karnataka.
Meanwhile, Bangalore, Mysore and Chamarajnagar have received more the rain in the past week compared to normal.
Prof B T Ninganur of University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, said the rain deficit will affect groundnut, maize and jowar crops in the region.
“The sowing is already affected in many parts of Dharwad district. The production will be less by a third for groundnut and maize crop if it doesn’t rain well in the next two weeks,” he said.
According to KSNMDC report, as of July 15, 70 per cent of the minor irrigation tanks in the State are still dry. With low pressure area over North-West of Bay of Bengal and South-West Monsoon active in South Karnataka, intermittent rain will continue in Bangalore city for the next two days.
The city recorded 49.2 mm rain on Friday which is actually a third of the total percentage of rain for this month.