No respite for Rayalaseema region; more rains till 2 Dec

The recent heavy rains wreaked havoc in the Rayalaseema region and Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh and claimed the lives of over 40 people and caused massive damages to crops and properties.

The IMD said a cyclonic circulation lies over the south Andaman sea and neighborhood at lower tropospheric levels. It is likely to move west northwestwards during the next four-five days. Under its influence, heavy to very heavy rains are very likely with isolated extremely heavy rains between 26 November and 2 December especially over Nellore, Prakasam Chittoor, Kadapa, and Anantapur districts, it said.

The IMD also confirmed the evolution and development of La Nina conditions, a phenomenon in the weather system when the equatorial Pacific Ocean remains cooler than normal. The active phase of multiple favourable weather systems will keep the northeast monsoon active in November and December, it added.

The extension of the southwest monsoon is the main reason for the formation of intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) which led to back-to-back depressions in November causing unseasonal rains. Normally depressions form in the cross coastal area of Krishna and Guntur regions but this time the depressions crossed the north Tamil Nadu coast due to various reasons.

The weather agency further said the sea surface temperatures are much favorable for the formation of three to four depressions till December and that the Rayalaseema region and Nellore district may receive rainfall till January.

Anantapur and YSR Kadapa districts in AP received the highest rainfalls from 1 to 21 November that were 173 and 169 per cent above normal. Anantapur recorded rainfall of 40.23 cm against the normal of 14.7 cm and YSR Kadapa received 53 cm rainfall compared to the normal 20 cm.