Loss from northeast monsoon pegged at ₹11,916.3 crore

Confronted with the fourth consecutive 12 months of flooding and landslips since 2018, two months of the northeast monsoon alone has brought on large losses by way of harm to life, property, and crops. The general estimated harm attributable to the rain in October and November alone has been pegged at ₹11,916.3 crore and as per the State Catastrophe Response Fund (SDRF) norms, ₹1,281.92 crore.

As per the estimates of the Karnataka State Pure Catastrophe Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), premature heavy rain throughout October and November has seen 42 human lives misplaced owing to flooding, 20,083 homes broken, and seven.9 lakh ha of agricultural crops, 1.25 lakh ha of horticultural crops, 0.75 lakh ha of plantation crops, and 243 ha of sericultural crops broken. The crop loss owing to floods is estimated at ₹8,962.02 crore

“The unprecedented incessant rainfall led to over-saturation of soil and inundation of crop fields for greater than every week to a month leading to important harm to standing crops close to harvesting stage. Additional, heavy rainfall throughout November additionally destroyed a lot of the rabi crops, comparable to Bengal gram, cotton, jowar, maize, and chilli. Lengthy period cloudy state of affairs led to pest and illness to plantation crops comparable to grapes, espresso, arecanut, and pepper, inflicting immense distress to farmers,” KNDMC officers stated, including that there had additionally been large-scale harm to homes and significant infrastructure comparable to roads, colleges, and authorities workplaces.

This consists of 19,366 km of State highways, and main district, village, and concrete roads; 1,258 bridges/culverts, 7,204 poles, 1,008 energy provide transformers as much as 11-kV, 446 km energy provide strains, 439 minor irrigation tanks, 977 water provide schemes, and seven,711 authorities buildings.

In keeping with the assertion displaying the quantity required for reduction, rescue and emergent works as a consequence of flood throughout the two months, the estimated infrastructure harm is ₹2,630.99.

Rainfall patterns

Officers from the catastrophe administration centre identified that there was massive intra-seasonal variability of rainfall within the State, notably since 2011, resulting in floods and droughts concurrently, and in 2021, Karnataka has been persistently experiencing excessive occasions since Might 2021.

Throughout the northeast monsoon — between October 1 and November 21 — simultaneous cyclonic circulation and low pressures over the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea resulted in premature incessant widespread heavy rainfall over the State, particularly within the south-interior Karnataka, Malnad, and coastal areas. This resulted within the State receiving 85% extra rainfall than regular, leading to 23 out of 31 districts recording extra to massive extra rainfall, officers stated.

General, the State recorded regular rainfall this 12 months from January 1 to November 30: 1,144 mm as in opposition to the traditional rainfall of 1,317 mm with a share departure of 15.

Throughout the pre-monsoon season (January 1 to Might 31), the State recorded 74% departure from regular, falling underneath the ‘massive extra rainfall’ class, whereas throughout the southwest monsoon season (June 1 to September 30), Karnataka noticed a -8 % departure — categorized as regular.

The northeast monsoon (October 1 to November 30) was an 87% departure, making the State fall underneath the ‘massive extra’ class.