Gujarat: Rains bring down monsoon deficit

After Vadodara, it was Rajkot's turn to be battered by rains. The city recorded 144 mm rainfall up to 8 in the evening on Friday, which was the second-highest in the state.

The highest rainfall was recorded in Mangrol taluka of Surat which recorded 187 mm rainfall. Several talukas of Saurashtra also witnessed heavy rains. Of the 144 mm, Rajkot received 71 mm rainfall within 3 hours. Private weather forecasting firm Skymet said that thundershowers are likely in state, particularly in the Saurashtra region, under the influence of a trough extending from Gujarat to North Bay of Bengal across North Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. In all, 145 talukas in the state received rains on Friday.

Rains, however, gave a cold shoulder to Ahmedabad on Friday, but the MET department has predicted the possibility of light showers today.

Heavy rains in the last few days have helped reduce the deficit in the state from June till August to 18%. Against the average rainfall of 391 mm for the period the state has so far received 321 mm rainfall. Among all the districts, Porbandar has the highest rain deficit at 51% while Vadodara that saw incessant rains has brought down its deficit to a mere 5%.