South west monsoon withdraws from Odisha, state receives 9% less rainfall

Bhubaneswar, Oct 17: The Southwest monsoon has officially withdrawn from Odisha which received nine per cent less rainfall than normal, IMD said.

While the normal rainfall in Odisha during monsoon is 1149.5 mm, the state received 1052 mm of rainfall this year which is estimated to be less by nine per cent, director of India Meteorological Department's Bhubaneswar regional centre Dr Sarat Chandra Sahu told PTI.

Sahu said at least nine of Odisha's 30 districts have received deficient rainfall. Bolangir district reported 34 per cent less rainfall, followed by Angul where the deficiency was 30 per cent.

The other districts which received less rainfall were Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Bargarh, Bhadrak, Sambalpur, Kandhamal and Sonepur. Upper Mahanadi basin in Sundergarh district received maxium rainfall of 1479 mm during the entire monsoon, the IMD sources said.

The southwest monsoon had arrived in the coastal state in the second week of June, was weak in its initial phase and became active in the later part of the season. It officially remained active till yesterday before withdrawing, the sources said.

PTI