2 Meghalaya towns received more rainfall last week than what Delhi, Punjab get in a year

"When it rains, it pours," say the residents of Mawsynram and Sohra towns in Meghalaya which have received more rainfall in the last week than Delhi, Punjab and Haryana get in a year.

The towns, located 100 km apart, are located on the southern slope of Bangladesh in the East Khasi Hills district.

The state has been receiving incessant rainfall as Amphan cyclonic circulation got trapped in the Northeast and the worst affected have been Mawsynram and Sohra, an official of the MeT Department told PTI.

Mawsynram town received 1506.2 mm rainfall from May 20 till Tuesday, while Sohra received 1357.8 mm rainfall during the same period, he said.

The average annual rainfall in Delhi and Haryana is 617 mm each and Punjab's average is 649 mm, he added.

On May 24, Mawsynram received 358.2 mm rainfall and on May 26, the town received over 300 mm rain. Sohra received over 320 mm rainfall on May 23 and the following day as well, the weather office said.

Ieidrity Lyndem, a resident of Sohra, said there is nothing unusual about the rainfall.

"There have been times in the past that it would rain continuously for weeks without break," she said.

In the past 24 hours, Sohra has received 243.6 mm rainfall and if the cyclonic circulation persists for a couple of days more, Mawsynram is expected to cross the 2000 mm-mark.

Deen Rapsang, a student, said she is aware of the heavy rainfall this year but is stunned by the statistics made available by the MeT department.

"But the people have accepted heavy rainfall as a way of life," Rapsang, a resident of Mawsynram, said.

Except for the landslides and disruptions to means of communication when there is too much water, life goes on as usual, she added.

The cyclonic circulation has triggered one of the heaviest pre-monsoon rainfall in the entire Northeast and it is over 15 times the rainfall north and central India received during this period, the official said.