The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday issued an alert and said that heavy rain was expected over Telangana on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"Heavy to very heavy rain very likely to occur at isolated places in the districts of Adilabad, Nirmal, Komram Bheem, Nizamabad, Jagtial Mancherial, Karimnagar, Rajanna Sircilla, Kamareddy, Pedapalle, Jayashankar Bhupallapally, Warangal (Urban and Rural), Siddipet, Medchal, Vikarabad, Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda and Wanarpathy," the IMD alert stated.
Hyderabad and its surrounding areas, which witnessed heavy rainfall in the last week of July, saw a lull over the last few days. On Monday, a few parts of Secunderabad such as Alwal, Kapra and Malkajgiri witnessed mild showers.
In the first week of August, the IMD had said that Hyderabad received a rainfall of 203.3 mm against the normal 275 mm, suggesting a deficit of 26%. At the time, the IMD had also said that between June and July, Medchal-Malkajgiri district (which also covers parts of Hyderabad and Secunderabad) received 255.5mm against the normal of 301.9mm, a deficit of 15% and Rangareddy district received 154.7mm against its normal rainfall of 241.4mm; a deficit of 36%.
Barring four out of the state's 31 districts, the rest have seen deficient rainfall in the first half of the monsoon from June 1 to July 31, the IMD then said.
The southwest monsoon arrived late in the state, which then led to delayed sowing operations.
Farmers who usually take up sowing operations in the first week of June did not start farm activity in more than 90% of the cultivable land in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh till the first week of July. However, with the states witnessing good rainfall till then, officials say that they have been able to bridge the gap and no shortage of food was to be expected.