Clouds of wet drought likely to hover over M’wada

Aurangabad, Sept 6:

There is a possibility of clouds of wet drought hovering over Marathwada if the current pace of rains continues.

The eight districts of the region recorded 93.5 per cent rainfall compared to the annual average rainfall so far. If the region gets 6.5 per cent more rainfall, it will achieve the annual average.

Because of this, there is a possibility of a wet drought in the region.

The annual estimated rainfall of the region is 679 mm rainfall in the four months of the rainy season while it registered 635 mm rainfall, so far.

A total of 55 mm of rainfall, including 11.5 mm on Monday, was recorded in the first four days of

the current month. Each district of the region experiences more or less rainfall with the beginning Ganesh festival as per the observation of the last few years. The monthly average rainfall in the season is 169.75 mm.

June month recorded less rainfall compared to average while heavy rains lashed the region in July, receiving double rainfall than expected. There was more or less rainfall by August 20. The region is experiencing rain regularly since August 31. A total of 11 big dams have 92 per cent water storage.

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Rs 1596 Cr financial aid needed

With continuous heavy rains and flooding, crops spread over 7.27 lakh hectares of land were damaged in the region in July and August months. Around 4.43 lakh hectares of area was affected in the eight districts so far. There is a need for Rs 1,596 crore of financial aid to distribute compensation to farmers for the crops' damages.

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The district-wise rainfall is as follows;

Aurangabad--523 mm

Jalna--615 mm

Beed--496 mm

Latur--626 mm

Osmanabad--533 mm

Nanded--883 mm

Parbhani--550 mm

Hingoli-766 mm

Total------635 mm rainfall.