Mysuru: The Southwest Monsoon might wreaked havoc in large parts of Kodagu, but the delay in the onset of the Northeast Monsoon has raised concerns among the people and government officials. Only months ago, Kodagu was reeling under the onslaught of heavy rain, which rendered many in the district homeless, besides causing huge damage to roads and other infrastructure. However, the lack of rain in the past few weeks has resulted in the inflow to Cauvery steadily drying up. What is worse, while the reservoirs in the Cauvery basin other than Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) – Kabini and Harangi are less than their corresponding levels last year around the same time. Experts hope that the Northeast monsoon might pick up toward the end of November.Officials in the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring centre (KSNDMC) said that the Malnad region comprising Shivamogga, Hassan, Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu had recorded deficient rainfall in October. The deficit in Shivamogga was the highest in October at 48%, while it was 34% in Kodagu, 27% and 32% in Hassan. Even Mysuru (17%) and surrounding districts such as Mandya (22%) and Chamarajanagar (25%) have witnessed deficient rainfall in October.The report submitted by KSNDMC states that Nanjangud taluk was the worst-affected in Mysuru district, with a 34% deficit.“If this trend continues in the Malnad region, a drought-like situation in the summer seems very likely. Hope the Northeast Monsoon revives soon,” said an official in the Karnataka agriculture department.Meanwhile, the dip in the water levels at Kabini – it stood at 2,280.59ft on Saturday, compared to 2,280.84ft on November 10, 2017. Similarly, the level at Harangi Dam in Kodagu district has slipped to 2,839.45ft, while it stood at 2,842.68ft on the corresponding day last year. This decline in water levels has officials in both the agriculture and irrigation departments worried.“The water level in the KRS Dam on Saturday stood at 121.57ft. Inflow into all reservoirs has come down drastically. Inflow into the Harangi Dam was just 105 cusecs on Saturday. This is an indication of the severity of the problem,” said an official from Indian Meteorological Department, Bengaluru.KSNDMC director Srinivas Reddy confirmed to TOI that the onset of the Northeast Monsoon had been delayed in the state. “By this time, we should have witnessed around three to four depressions forming in the Bay of Bengal. But, this year, we have only seen one depression, which fizzled out with Karnataka seeing no rain because of it. This has resulted in dry weather,” Reddy said.However, there is some hope on the horizon with a new weather system forming in the Bay of Bengal, which is likely to result in a cyclone called ‘Gaja’. “This cyclone is expected to result in rainfall in Karnataka from Friday through Sunday,” Reddy added.

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