Chandigarh, Aug 14 (IANS) The monsoon rainfall this year has broken a six-year-old record in Punjab and Haryana and their capital Chandigarh, an official said Thursday. “Recorded monsoon rainfall from June 1 to Aug 13 this year in Chandigarh is 782.4 mm (millimeter) which is 34 percent more than normal during this period.

“In 2007 and 2006, we had only 458.4 mm and 349.2 mm rainfall, respectively, in this period that was far below the normal rainfall,” Chatar Singh Malik, director of meteorological department, Chandigarh, told IANS.

The normal rainfall in the monsoon season between June 1 to Aug 14 is 585 mm in Chandigarh.

Punjab and Haryana have also witnessed record rainfall during the monsoon.

The met office recorded 369 mm rainfall in Punjab till Aug 10 which is 36 percent more than normal.

In Haryana, the recorded downpour till date is 319 mm which is 28 percent more than the normal rainfall. The rainfall in 2007 and 2006 were 228 mm and 209 mm, respectively, which were also below the normal.

“One major reason of this heavy downpour in the region is the early advent of monsoon in 2008 that came June 13. Then it rained at regular intervals in patches without any significant break. This has happened many times before but it is a new thing that we observed in the last 6-7 years in this region,” said Malik.

In some towns like Sirsa and Bhiwani in Haryana and in some parts of Punjab there are flood-like situations. But this is all due to the inefficient drainage system and not because of excessive rainfall. Rainfall in Punjab and Haryana will come down in the next 2-3 days, he said.