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Karnataka’s major catchment areas, which feed rivers like the Kaveri and Tungabhadra, received less than a third of the usual rainfall during the first 25 days of the monsoon season, according to data from the Karnataka Natural Disaster Monitoring Cell (KSNDMC).
Malnad districts like Shivamoga, Chikmagalur and Kodagu, where many tributaries join these rivers originate, recorded huge deficits in rainfall, receiving 78 per cent less than normal. The data showed that, against a normal average rainfall of 619 mm, these regions received only 188 mm of precipitation.
The shortage has been attributed to the late onset of the monsoon – this year, the monsoon hit Karnataka on June 10 as opposed to the normal onset of June 5.
Inland southern Karnataka, though with a deficit of 21 per cent, is the only region in the state that has recorded rainfall near normal. Bengaluru Urban recorded 49 mm of rain, which is 26 percent less than normal. As a whole, Karnataka received only 55mm of rain as opposed to 152mm – 64 per cent less.
Weak rains mean that the flow of the state’s major reservoirs, such as the KRS dam in Mandya district and Tungabhadra in Vijayanagar district, remains low. Storage in KRS as of June 24 was at 9.93 TMC, compared to 28.35 TMC on the same day last year. Similarly, Tungabhadra currently holds 4.18 TMC of water, up from 43.92 TMC last year.
Forecasts indicate that the situation is likely to improve in the coming days as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted heavy rains in coastal areas and scattered rains in other parts of the state over the next four days. The flow to the reservoirs will improve as rainfall increases in the coming days. “Reservoirs usually get more flow during July and August,” said one of the scientists at KSNDMC.
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