Over 100% more rains in southern states in November: IMD

The southern states that have been facing excessive rains for more than 10 days have clocked in record rainfall in November with Andhra Pradesh receiving 156 per cent excess rains, Kerala showing 148 per cent departure, while Tamil Nadu witnessed a 115 per cent departure, IMD data showed on Friday.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) data has also shown that Karnataka has received as much as 292 per cent excess rainfall for the month.

And it is not just the northeast monsoon that is bringing in these excessive rains causing massive floods leading to loss of lives and damage to property.

The departure for November rains - till November 26 - in Karnataka is more than any other states simply because except some parts of southern Karnataka, for other parts, the major rainfall months are for the southwest monsoon months of June to September.

Northeast monsoon brings rainfall to south Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, coastal Andhra Pradesh and some parts of Telangana.

In IMD parlance, departure means an increase or decrease (here increase) from the average mean temperature/rainfall of the given time period based on 30 years' records.

IMD's head of the Long-Range Forecast, D.S. Pai said: "There was one cyclonic storm and then, one after another, there have been two depressions and low-pressure systems continuously because of the easterly waves. This has been bringing in more rains than normal."

The last time there was a similar situation was in November 2015 when Chennai and many other areas of Tamil Nadu had witnessed similar excessive rains.

However, the November excess rainfall of Andhra Pradesh (156 per cent departure), Kerala (148 per cent departure), Tamil Nadu (115 per cent departure) and Karnataka (292 per cent departure) lowers down to 37 per cent, 112 per cent, 70 per cent and 104 per cent for the NE monsoon season, i.e., from October 1 till November 26, the IMD data shows.

However, November still has four more days to go and the IMD has predicted isolated very heavy rainfall over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry & Karaikal till November 29, and isolated very heavy rainfall over south Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema on November 28 and 29.