AGARTALA, August 4 (TIWN): The state’s seasonal agricultural produce is likely to suffer from drought condition unless the weak monsoon rejuvenated very shortly, a source in the Department of Agriculture said here today. The source said that the state has had exceptionally low rainfall in July which led the agricultural sector to face possibilities of heavy damage. Though there was scattered rainfall in the past few days, the required figures are far from satisfactory, he added.

Asked about the issue, an official from the state meteorological department on Monday said that the state was expected to have an average of 376.4 mm rainfall in July. “We usually compare the last year’s results with trends of the current year and forecast possibilities of monthly rainfall. The result just didn’t add up”, the official said. The state had barely 145 mm rainfall in the month of July.

On the contrary, June gave generous showers to Tripura and other NE states. A source in the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the Tripura had 486 mm rainfall in June compared to the expected amount of 421.3 mm. The onset of monsoon was very strong, the source said. However, with strengthening of the monsoon winds on the Arabian Sea, depression and rainfall possibilities on the Bay of Bengal have weakened over the past few days.

Flood-like situations were seen in Mumbai, Pune and other cities along the western coast. The met official said that Tripura is expected to have around 300 mm rainfall in August. “We gad around 6 mm rainfall in the past three days”, he said. A low pressure area lies over interior Odisha & neighbourhood. The associated upper air cyclonic circulation extends upto 7.6 km above mean sea level tilting southwestwards with height, the official said.