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Heaviest rain in 25 years in India


Published : 01 Oct 2019 09:11 PM | Updated : 07 Sep 2020 06:50 AM

India has experienced the wettest monsoon so far this year in the last 25 years, leaving a trail of death devastation at several places. The rains claimed 140 lives in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states in the last one week alone. The precipitation received so far is 10 per cent more than the normal, which is highest in the last 25 years, said an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official.

"The southwest monsoon arrived late over the Indian subcontinent this year. At the end of June, the rainfall deficit was of 33 per cent. Today, it is 10 per cent more than the normal, he said. The withdrawal of southwest monsoon has been delayed by a month, the official said. "Normal withdrawal of southwest monsoon begins by September 1 in Rajasthan and other northern parts of India. This year, the Hikka cyclone has so far brought more showers and southwest monsoon is still here,” he said.

India’s financial hub Mumbai has received 3,669.6 mm rainfall so far this season - the highest in 61 years - as against its normal quota of 2,350 mm. In 1958, Mumbai had received 3759.7 mm rainfall. After that, Mumbai has recorded its highest rainfall in the current season, which is still not over, he said. Mumbai also faced extremely heavy rainfall (which means more than 200 mm rainfall in 24 hours) five times in the entire season. "This has happened for the first time here in Mumbai, said the official.