Climate change has hit home. The northeast, which sees devastating floods every year during the rains, has had a deficient monsoon this year.
And with little over a month left for the rainy season to end, it is unlikely that the region will receive enough rain to make up for the backlog.
According to the Regional Meteorological Centre here, rainfall departure from normal ranged between 38 and 77 per cent across the region since June 1. The rains hit the northeast a few days later than the normal June 5 this year.
The normal time of withdrawal of the monsoon is September 30. Assam is reeling under 27 per cent deficient rainfall, having received only 805.8mm against the normal 1098.6mm since June 1.
Arunachal Pradesh received 717.4mm rainfall against the normal 1159.9mm, which is 38% deficient.
While Manipur is reeling under a dry spell with rainfall deficiency reaching 77 per cent, Meghalaya experienced 62 per cent less rainfall between June 1 and August 19.
Manipur received 364mm rainfall against the normal 1,605mm in the same period while Meghalaya received 795.3mm rainfall against the normal quantum of 2072.2mm.
Likewise, Nagaland’s deficiency figure is 48 per cent with the state receiving 501.1mm rain against the normal 970.3mm in this period. Mizoram received 686.1mm rain against the normal quantum of 1162.1mm, taking the deficiency to 48 per cent while Tripura received 763.9mm rainfall against the normal 1102.1mm, deficient by 31 per cent.
The current scenario in the state is in stark contrast to the situation same time last year. In 2012, over 120 persons died and nearly 23 lakh people were affected in one of the worst floods experienced by the state in a decade. A staggering 700 animals, including rhinos, elephants and hog deer, also perished in the devastating floods.
However, a senior revenue department official assured that though the rainfall has been deficient this monsoon, the situation is not as grim as it was in 2006 or in 2009 when a drought-like situation prevailed in Assam.
While the low rainfall this monsoon has affected agriculture in many parts of state, even as districts like Dhemaji, Golaghat, Nagaon and Sivasagar have been hit by floods that affected 28,074 people as on Monday.