-The Financial Express Seasonal showers declined 6% from the long-period average up to August 6 For the first time since the current monsoon season started in June, the country’s water storage has dropped from both the level a year before and the normal benchmark average, thanks to a slowdown in monsoon rains since early July. Seasonal showers declined 6% from the long-period average (LPA) up to August 6, worsening from a deficit of...

-The Times of India HYDERABAD: Telangana appears to be heading towards a drought. Half of the monsoon season is over and apart from the initial days of rainfall, the state has had a dry spell. Water levels in reservoirs are dropping rapidly and many towns are facing a drinking water crisis. In rural areas, the crisis is in the form of dying crops and a looming threat of fodder shortage. In fact,...

-The Times of India HYDERABAD: The lack of monsoon rains is spelling doom for Telangana on three fronts: First, a drastic drop in paddy cultivation is set to trigger a massive shortage in rice production; second, with their crops more or less destroyed and the prospect of rains in the near future bleak, farmers are resorting to suicides; and thirdly, plummeting water levels at Nagarjunsagar Dam is threatening to disrupt the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: After a wet June, when other systems had countered the adverse effects of El Nino, monsoon took a drier turn in July and the month ended with a countrywide rain deficit of 17%. However, kharif sowing remained robust, boosted by good rain spells in several parts of the country. With the dip in rains, monsoon's performance in the first half of the season — June 1...

-Business Standard Skymet says rains will be normal in August Southwest monsoon has shown marked improvement over central and eastern parts of India in the past few days, narrowing the cumulative deficiency for July to 15 per cent from a high of 50 per cent. However, the situation is worrisome in parts of central Maharashtra, Marathwada, Rayalseema region of Andhra Pradesh, some districts of Telangana, and north interior Karnataka, where the total seasonal...