Northeast May Suffer From Floods

Kolkata: West Bengal is expected to receive above normal rainfall this monsoon while north-eastern states face the risk of floods, a private weather forecasting agency said here today.

Dr Kanti Prasad, climate scientist at Weather Risk Management Services (WRMS), said there will be a variation in rainfall but overall the state will receive rainfall in excess. Next month the northern part of the state is expected to receive excess rainfall while in August, it may be a little on negative side. In September, rainfall may be more or less than normal, Prasad, the ex-deputy director general of meteorology at IMD, said.

When asked about north-eastern states, Prasad said the rainfall will be good in June and July but less in the next two months. He said there are chances of floods in the region as a result of excess rainfall. WRMS has analysed data from the NOAA climate coupled forecast system model version 2 (CFSV2) model to predict that the onset of monsoon is expected to be slightly delayed and is likely to take place around June 6-7 as a weak current.

Monsoon rains are expected to commence over north-eastern states around June 10 and advance further westward across West Bengal, Bihar, east UP and Himalayan belt between June 16-20. The agency said the western side of the country may receive a little less than normal rainfall in June while in the next few months there will be normal or excess rainfall throughout the country except in some pockets.