Odisha receives 10.1 per cent deficit rainfall

Natural calamity prone Odisha has received 10.1 per cent deficit rainfall during the peak monsoon season from June to September this year, official sources said.
The cumulative average rainfall in Odisha from June to September, 2017 remained 1,028.3 mm against the LTA (long term average) of 1,144.3 mm which accounts for a deficit of 10.1 per cent, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) B P Sethi said.
"Of the 30 districts of Odisha, only Gajapati district received surplus rainfall more than 19 per cent during the period," Sethi said.
The twenty districts, which received normal rainfall (+19 per cent to -19 per cent) during this period, are: Rayagada, Kalahandi, Ganjam, Nabarangpur, Khurda, Malkangiri, Jharsuguda, Cuttack, Deogarh, Koraput, Puri, Sundargarh, Jagatsinghpur, Nayagarh, Kendrapara, Sambalpur, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Kandhamal and Nuapada.

However, Sethi said that the rainfall in nine districts -- Subarnapur, Keonjhar, Bhadrak, Bargarh, Boudh, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Bolangir and Angul -- remained deficit between 19 per cent and 39 per cent.
Going by the block-wise rainfall data, 45 blocks have received surplus rainfall (19 per cent), 155 blocks normal rainfall, 87 blocks deficit rainfall, 25 blocks severe deficit rainfall (-39 percent to -59 per cent) and two blocks experienced scanty rainfall (-59 per cent) during the four months of June, July, August and September cumulatively, he said.
"Two blocks which have experienced scanty rainfall are Odapada in Dhenkanal district (-62.2 per cent) and Hatadihi in Keonjhar district (-60.2 per cent) during the four months," the SRC said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has asked the district collectors to submit report of deficit rainfall and crop loss due to scanty downpour by October 15.