Widespread June rains cheer Maharashtra

Spelling cheer for the people, farmers and industry, Maharashtra has received an average of nearly one-fourth of its total annual rainfall in just the first fortnight of June, officials said here Monday.

Of the state's total annual average of 115.99 centimetres (cm), the state has so far received an average of 25.52 cm so far, figures released by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's office said.

This is also significantly higher than 24.06 cm, the state's average rainfall for June although July is usually the wettest month in the state.

This year, the spread of the rains has also covered almost all the 35 districts uniformly, auguring well for agriculture, industry and domestic users.

While 31 districts have received more than 100 percent of the rain quota for June, three districts - Parbhani, Osmanabad and Solapur - have received between 75-100 percent.

Only one - Beed district with 5.81 cm - figures in the lowest rainfall of 50-100 percent bracket. These four districts (Beed, Parbhani, Osmanabad and Solapur) fall in the low rainfall and dry Marathwada region of central part of the state.

As in the past, the top honour for the highest amount of rain goes to the hilly, coastal Ratnagiri, which has already recorded 86.65 cms rains so far, against its June average of 81.79 cm. With an annual average rainfall of 336.42 cm, it is the state's wettest.

At the other extreme is Sangli in western Maharashtra which gets an average annual rainfall of 41.84 cm. This month it has already received 8.10 cm, which is nearly equal to its total rainfall for June at 8.52 cm.

Mumbai city and suburbs, which rank among the top six rain soaked districts, have also received good rainfall this month, the CMO said.

This month, Mumbai city received 74.89 cm rains, compared to its regular average of 55.16 cm rain in June.

Similarly, Mumbai suburbs notched 75.58 cm rains, compared to the regular average of 54.44 cm for the month of June.