Bhubaneswar: The state recorded an average rainfall of 443.3 mm in the month of August against the long term average (LTA) of 356 mm registering a surplus of 24.5 per cent.
According to official data, Malkangiri district received the highest rainfall of 763.3 mm (61.5 per cent surplus) while Puri district recorded lowest rainfall of 287.6 mm (3.4 per cent deficit) during August, 2019.
The cumulative rainfall of the state from June to August remained at 901.0 mm against the normal rain fall of 912.4 mm registering a deficit of 1.2 per cent.
Five districts—Kalahandi, Koraput, Malkangiri, Bolangir and Jharsuguda received surplus rainfall of more than 19 per cent during the period (three months).
The rainfall was normal in 21 districts namely Kandhamal, Nawarangpur, Rayagada, Cuttack, Puri, Sonepur, Bargarh, Khurda, Ganjam, Nayagarh, Jajpur, Gajapati, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Nuapada, Jagatsinghpur, Sambalpur, Boudh, Dhenkanal, Mayurbhanj and Balasore.
Rainfall in 4 districts namely Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Angul and Deogarh remained deficit between 19 per cent and 39 per cent during the period.
Further, Malkangiri district received the highest rainfall of 1548.7 mm (34.6% surplus) and Gajapati district received the lowest rainfall of 616.6 mm (9.8% deficit) during the past three months.
There were total 35.7 rainy days during June to August 2019 against the normal average of 40.9 rainy days. There were 7.4 rainy days in June, 13.7 rainy days in July and 14.6 rainy days in August, 2019.
Going by the Block-wise rainfall data, 66 Blocks have received surplus rainfall, 169 Blocks received normal rainfall, another 68 Blocks recorded deficit rainfall (19% to 39%) and 11 Blocks received severe deficit rainfall (39% to 59%) during these 3 months cumulatively.
Eleven Blocks which have experienced severe deficit rainfall are Balasore (42.0%) & Nilagiri (42.6%) in Balasore District, Reamal (41.8%) in Deogarh district, Harichandanpur (39.9%), Champua (43.6%), Jhumpura (44.5%) and Joda (47.9%) in Keonjhar district, Narayanpatna (44.5%) in Koraput district, Naktideul (47.7%) in Sambalpur district, Rajgangpur (41.0%) and Bonai (44.8%) in Sundargarh district.
