North Gujarat continues to be rain deficient despite good showers

Gujarat may have clocked over 100% rainfall this monsoon but for North Gujarat, the wait for rain will continue. As this is the only region in the state that has not seen over 100% rainfall. 

Saurashtra, which is traditionally drought-prone has seen almost 99% rainfall so far. Even Kutch that receives one of the lowest rainfall in the state has so far received over 130% of its annual average rainfall of 401mm.

Of the total four districts form part of North Gujarat — Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Aravalli and Gandhinagar — Mehsana has received the lowest rainfall. It has so far received only 77% of its average annual rainfall of 721mm.

Interestingly, the lowest rainfall among all talukas has so far been received by Mandal of Ahmedabad district. The taluka got just  42% of its annual average rainfall. Whereas, Ahmedabad city has so far received only 78% of its total rainfall.

Of the total 251 talukas, 60 have received over 1000 mm of rainfall this season while 139 talukas have received rain between 500 mm and 1000 mm of rainfall.

It should be noted that the monsoon began on a weak footing for the state. Of the total 860 mm of rainfall, it has received so far, 108 mm was received in June while the maximum was received in August which saw 446 mm of rainfall.

On Friday, 66 talukas of the state received the rain, of which the highest was recorded in Kaprada in Valsad that recorded 64 mm of rainfall. 

Meanwhile, the Meteorological Department has warned of heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places in the districts of South Gujarat region namely Dangs, Tapi, Navsari and Valsad.  Saurashtra region is also likely to see heavy rains, particularly in Rajkot, Jamnagar, Porbandar and Dwarka.

The met department has also warned of the likelihood of heavy rains in Ahmedabad district although the city saw no rains on Friday