India faced an eight per cent deficient rainfall than normal at the end of the four-month- long south-west monsoon season as a late rally washed away the spectre of possible drought.

Belying fears of little rainfall due to adverse El Nino conditions, the month of September ended with an 11 per cent excess as the country received 192 mm rains as against the average of 173.5 mm, weather office data showed.

The monsoon season begins with the onset of rains in Kerala usually on June 1 and ends on September 30.

The south-west monsoon entered the withdrawal phase on September 24-25, but this activity has also been sluggish as east and northeast regions continued to get seasonal showers.

The India Meteorological Department has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall at one or two places over Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh over the next three days.

It has also forecast heavy rainfall over coastal Andhra Pradesh, North coastal Tamil Nadu, Rayalseema, Telangana and interior Karnataka tomorrow.

“There has been no delay. The withdrawal process on monsoon begins in September and continues till October 15,” IMD Director General Laxman Singh Rathore said.

He said soon after the withdrawal of south-west monsoon, the north-west monsoon season would begin by October 20 and continue till December.

North-east monsoon is the major rainy season for Tamil Nadu accounting for 48 per cent of its annual rains.

As per the latest data, the country received 819.5 mm rain against an average of 886.9 mm. More than 67 per cent of the country has got normal or excess rain this season

Key rain-deficient regions include Punjab (-46 per cent), Haryana (-39 per cent), northern Karnataka (-35 per cent), Gujarat (-28 per cent), Saurashtra and Kutch (-34 per cent), Madhya Maharashtra (-25 per cent), Marathwada (-33 per cent), Western Uttar Pradesh (-28 per cent), Southern Karnataka (-24 per cent) and Kerala (-24 per cent).

Monsoon witnessed a sluggish start this season with a three-day delay in onset. June and July saw 28 per cent and 13 per cent deficient rains respectively.

The poor rainfall had prompted the government to unveil a slew of measures to cut the impact of impending drought.

However, El Nino conditions in central Pacific which are known to have adverse impact on the Indian monsoon did not develop as forecast by international agencies leading to good rains in August and September.

The country as a whole received one per cent excess rains in August and a whopping 11 per cent excess in September.

Monsoon is crucial for agriculture in the country as it irrigates nearly 60 per cent of the cultivable land.

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