Despite a perception that there was ample rainfall this year and in spite of depressions bringing rains to most districts in Tamil Nadu, rainfall data of Madurai shows that the district was yet to receive its average rainfall for the year.
While Madurai may have received an average rainfall of 811.34 mm as on Thursday, data shows that the district has received only 720.91 mm of rainfall, a shortage of 11 per cent.
Barring the months of May, July, and September, rainfall in remaining months has been below average.
September was bountiful with 158.09 mm of rainfall. Though October received slightly more rainfall than September, it was roughly 25 percent short of the average rainfall expected in the month. The district also received unexpectedly high rainfall of 135.69 mm in May, which was more than double the amount expected in the month.
“Though the district has not received good rainfall, more water from Vaigai dam due to rains in the catchment areas has helped the district in irrigation and also filling up the considerable number of tanks,” Madurai Collector S. Natarajan said.
He said that he has also asked officials from Public Works Department to effectively manage the water in Vaigai dam in anticipation of the possibility of that the district may not reach its average expected rainfall of 874.5 mm this year.
Cyclone damage
While Cyclone Gaja that wreaked havoc in many districts of Tamil Nadu failed to bring significant rains to Madurai, it did bring considerable damages to crops.
Collector S. Natarajan said that a total of 809.2 hectare of land under cultivation were damaged, which include 520.94 hectare of agricultural crops and 288.26 hectare of horticultural crops.
Major damage in terms of area was to paddy (335.54 hectare) followed by 250.58 hectare of banana, 158.54 hectare of sugarcane, and 896 coconut trees.
“The enumeration exercise to collect details of all the affected farmers and extent of damages has been completed. They will get the government-announced compensation soon,” he said.