A file photo of Wakaba falls in Cherrapunjee.

GUWAHATI: When Kerala lies devastated by one of the worst deluge, an all-time high rainfall deficit in northeastern region has made the wettest and second wettest places on earth, Mawsynram and Sohra (formerly Cherrapunjee), in Meghalaya ’s East Khasi Hills district dry and abnormally hot.

According to the Met department, it last rained at Sohra on Friday. Without the rain, Sohra registered a record maximum temperature of 30.3 degree Celsius on Sunday, 7.4 degree Celsius more than normal temperature. The minimum temperature was 20 degree Celsius, which was also 2 degree above normal. The last high was 29.7 degree Celsius in 1995.

The Met department said that conditions necessary for rainfall in the region does not exist in the atmosphere at the moment. “There is low pressure over the Bay of Bengal but the movement of winds is north-westwards, away from this region,” a source said.

Meghalaya’s capital, Shillong, a summer getaway refuge, too is sweltering in abnormal heat. On Sunday, it recorded a high of 28.2 degree Celsius, 4.1 degree higher than its normal temperature while the minimum was also one degree higher at 18 degree Celsius than what it should have been.

In the current monsoon season from June 1, the entire northeastern region has been put into deficit rainfall activity category, with Manipur being the worst hit with a shortfall of 65 per cent, followed by Nagaland with 47% deficit and Arunachal and Meghalaya witnessing 46% less rainfall. The deficit is 29% in Assam, 22% in Tripura and 11% in Mizoram.

