#MV Bureau

Kochi | The intense downpour during the last week of September may have brought down the rain deficiency in Kerala during this monsoon to 34 per cent from 48 per cent at the end of August, there are concerns over the erratic monsoon pattern owing to climate change.

Between June 1 and September 30, Kerala received 1326.1 mm as against a normal of 2018.6 mm. Four districts - Alappuzha, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Thiruvananthapuram - have come out of deficiency and are now in the normal level.

While rainfall was scanty in June, July and August, intense spells of during September when the monsoon is set to withdraw send dangerous signals. A week-long very heavy downpour in late September that flooded several areas can be an indication of what is now going to be the pattern.

Rainfall that has to be spread over three months starting June, now comes in heavy patches towards the end of the period. Climatologists point out that the disastrous 2018 floods came after a heavy rain in mid-August and the Koottikkal landslides were in October 2021.

What such intense spells indicate are that there could be cloudbursts and even tornadoes that Kerala has been witnessing over the years. This is a dangerous phenomenon, points out a recent study by climatologists of the atmospheric department of Cochin University of Science and Technology.

It says that in just an hour or so there could be rainfall of over 10 cm which can prove disastrous. This changing pattern can transform not just water management but also the agriculture calendar. On the water management front, it has been noticed that spells of heavy downpour, following with drought in certain areas, have come to stay. Harvest of vegetables has been affected as also preparations in inundated paddy fields.