Winter monsoon or the northeast monsoon has made a strong start with several places in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha witnessing floods, owing to persistent rain in the last few days. Several rivers in the region are flowing above the danger mark. More than four dozen deaths have been reported and crops destroyed in both the states in the last week.
In Andhra Pradesh, thousands of villages across the state remained submerged as Krishna River continued to be destructive at several places. According to an official note from the commissioner, disaster management, more than 72,000 people were evacuated from low-lying areas in nine districts. Also, crops over 5.64 lakh hectares and 6,597 houses had been damaged.
12 districts of Odisha, Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Balasore, Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj are facing floods but situation is expected to get better with major rivers starting to recede.
In Odisha, over 5.32 lakh people in 2,276 villages were affected by the floods, while about 1.47 lakh people were evacuated. Of the 129 villages inundated in Ganjam district by flash floods on Friday,
Forecast for these places shows rain is expected to ease out in a couple of days. Here is a look at how northeast monsoon has performed in the week of 17th to 23rd Oct.
North coastal Andhra Pradesh has received 105.9 mm of rain which is 106% more than the average of 51 mm. Rayalaseema received 56.4 mm of rain 99% more than normal of 28.2 mm. Rain has been normal in Telangana.
Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Vijayanagram and Hyderabad recorded heavy rain of up to 200 mm in just 24 hours. While Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Balasore and Ganjam in Odisha received record rain during the period.
Odisha received a total of 124% more rain than normal as it recorded 46.7 mm of rain against 20.8 mm.
In West Bengal, Gangetic West Bengal recorded 60% more rain than average of 21 mm. It received 34.1 mm of rain from 17th to 23rd October