The pattern of southwest monsoon’s progress across the State is one of contrast with intense rainfall in the coastal belt while the rest of Karnataka is witnessing intermittent rain followed by prolonged dry spell.
While 10 deaths have been reported in the coastal belt (see accompanying report) and the fear of flood looms large, the spectre of drought and crop loss is haunting farmers in different parts of the State.
Though heavy rain since the last few days has helped bridge the rainfall deficiency significantly across Karnataka and provided the proverbial silver lining, the cumulative rainfall is below normal for the period of June 1 to July 9.
The State had 36% deficiency as on June 30 and a few intense spell since July 1 helped bridge the deficiency to 23% by July 9. The gradual shrinking of the deficiency is being witnessed across the State though the shortfall with respect to the long period average is still high.
According to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, the deficiency in South-interior Karnataka for June was 23% and it shrank to 9% by July 9. The North-interior Karnataka had a 55% deficiency for June and it narrowed down to 37% by July 9.
The rainfall in Malnad region was 74% below normal for June but in the 9 days since then, the deficiency, - though high - reduced marginally and was 53% as on July 9. The coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada had a 56% deficiency by the end of June. But intense rains between July 1 and 9 has helped reduce the deficiency to 32%.
The storage levels in reservoirs across the State continue to be grim as on July 9. The poor storage in Tungabhadra reservoir near Hosapete in Vijayanagara district is likely to shatter farmers’ dreams in the four districts – Koppal, Raichur, Ballari, and Vijayanagara – that are heavily dependent on the reservoir for irrigation.
As per the information provided by the Tungabhadra Board authorities, the dam held as little as 3.081 tmcft of water on July 9, against its gross capacity of 105.78 tmcft. The average inflow in the last 24 hours was just 280 cusecs. The water level in the reservoir was 1,576.72 feet against the Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 1,633 feet.
Since the scanty water available in the dam is kept for meeting drinking water requirements in Koppal, Vijayanagara, Raichur and Ballari for six months, the release of water for agriculture proposes is unlikely in the kharif season. The deficient monsoon and poor storage in Tungabhadra reservoir are likely to affect the crop pattern in this irrigated belt as farmers may opt for cotton, chilli and other crops that require relatively less water.
Kodagu received heavy to very heavy rain during last week augmenting the inflow into the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) dam. But the rainfall ebbed and the inflow will also reduce in the days ahead. The reservoir level on Sunday was 84.5 feet against the full level of 124.8 feet.
Though parts of the Kalyana Karnataka region received some rains in the past few days, no part of the region received sufficient rainfall for taking up sowing. Belagavi is also experiencing prolonged dry spell with scattered rains. There was 42% deficiency in Haveri, 27% deficiency in Belagavi, 8% deficiency in Kalaburagi while the rainfall was scattered and isolated in districts like Raichur, Dharwad, Haveri, Yadgir, Bagalkot, Bidar, Koppal and so on.
