It did not just rain but poured in South India, as the North East monsoon, arrived dot on time, in its full fury, on October 19, adding to the general cheer following a good South West monsoon.Under normal circumstances, only five Met sub divisions expect rain from the North East monsoon — Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalseema, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, South interior Karnataka and Kerala. But this time, it was an unexpected but welcome shower for North interior Karnataka. This area was reeling under a drought when the rest of the country was gloating over a good monsoon. It got 98 per cent more rain than normal in the first week of the North East monsoon setting in. In the week, ending on 29th of last month, the state received 3 per cent more cumulative rain than normal.‘‘Since it was coming at the end of the South West monsoon, it was beneficial for farmers and helped in mitigating the effects of the drought,’’ said a spokesperson for the meteorological department.Nearly 14 districts had been declared as ‘‘drought-hit’’ and the Centre had also extended relief to the state. While the North East monsoon stays in the country till December, it is October and November that enables the southern states to sow an extra paddy crop.The other unexpected gainer has been coastal Karnataka with 5 per cent more rain. It normally does not get a drop from the North East monsoon. The main beneficiary has been Tamil Nadu, which in the first week got 62 per cent more than normal. By the month-end, it had received 15 per cent more than the normal share of rain.October also spelt good rain for Coastal Andhra Pradesh, which had 53 per cent more rain, Rayalseema (54 pc), South Interior Karnataka (50 pc) and Kerala (35 pc).Met officials say the reason for the good spell has been the two depressions that formed over the Bay of Bengal and moved eastwards towards the coast. The first depression moved eastwards into Orissa. Another low pressure trough over Andaman Sea, moved north westwards, and intensified into a deep depression towards Vishakhapatnam, before floating into Telangana. These weather systems brought heavy rain to coastal Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Jharkhand.
