18 districts record deficient rainfall this season

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh received deficient rainfall in 18 districts against total 26 districts this monsoon season in the first three weeks of June.

Normal average rainfall in the State in the first three weeks is 94 mm. But, the State received only 59 mm rainfall. Farmers are eagerly waiting for the rainfall to start the kharif agriculture season in many parts of the State.

Only four districts received normal rainfall. Guntur, Krishna, Bapatla and Sri Satya Sai districts got the normal rainfall till now.

Two districts received large deficient rainfall i.e. Visakhapatnam and East Godavari.

East Godavari district’s normal rainfall is 125 mm. The actual rainfall recorded in East Godavari district is only 25 mm this season.

Visakhapatnam district too got the large deficient rainfall. Normal rainfall in the season in the first three weeks is 126 mm. The actual rainfall received is only 37 mm in Visakhapatnam district.

Only two districts got excess rainfall this season. Dr B R Ambedkar Konaseema and Chittoor districts received excess rainfall. Normal rainfall for BR Ambedkar Konaseema district is 137 mm. But, the district received 165 mm rainfall. Normal rainfall of Chittoor district is 80 mm. While the district got 96.5 mm rainfall. The farmers are eagerly waiting for good rainfall to begin the kharif season.

The State experienced severe heat waves in the summer and temperatures in some parts even reached to nearly 50 degrees Celsius. Though the temperature levels have decreased by 5 to 10 degrees in the State in the past few weeks, the rainfall is very low in most parts of the State. The Indian Meteorological Department has predicted good monsoon this year. As expected the monsoon reached Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and these States have received rains in the first two weeks of June.

But, Andhra Pradesh is still waiting for normal rainfall this season. The following 18 districts have received deficient rainfall till now this season.

Alluri Sitarama Raju, Anakapalli, Eluru, Kakinada, Palnadu, NTR, Parvatipuram Manyam, Prakasam, Nellore, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, West Godavari, Anantapur, Annamayya, Kurnool, Nandyal, Tirupati and YSR districts.

Most of these districts mainly depend on rains to begin the kharif season. On the other hand, water levels at the reservoirs of Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar are also low.