India Gets 9% More Monsoon Rain in July After Weak June 

Children play in the rain in Mumbai, India, June 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Children play in the rain in Mumbai, India, June 20, 2024. (Reuters)
TT
20

India Gets 9% More Monsoon Rain in July After Weak June 

Children play in the rain in Mumbai, India, June 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Children play in the rain in Mumbai, India, June 20, 2024. (Reuters)

India received 9% more rainfall than average in July as the monsoon covered the entire country ahead of schedule, delivering heavy rain in central and southern states, weather department data showed on Wednesday.

The lifeblood of the nearly $3.5 trillion economy, the monsoon brings nearly 70% of the rain India needs to water farms and refill reservoirs and aquifers.

Without irrigation, nearly half of the farmland in the world's second-biggest producer of rice, wheat and sugar depends on the annual rains that usually run from June to September.

In July, southern and central regions of the country received nearly a third more rainfall than the average, while east and north-eastern regions received 23.3% less rainfall, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The north-western part of the country got 14.3% less rainfall than average.

The surplus rainfall in July helped erase June's rainfall deficit of 10.9%, and the country has received 1.8% more rainfall since the start of the monsoon season on June 1.

Summer rains, critical for economic growth in Asia's third-largest economy, usually begin in the south around June 1 before spreading nationwide by July 8, allowing farmers to plant crops such as rice, cotton, soybeans and sugarcane.

This year monsoon covered the entire country six days ahead of the usual time of arrival, helping farmers to accelerate planting of summer-sown crops.



Two Bears Escape Wildlife Park Enclosure, Eat a 7-Day Supply of Honey, Then Fall Asleep

Rescued brown bear cubs, Lucy (left) and Mish (right) explore gifts stuffed with their favorite treats ahead of their move from the Wildwood Trust in Kent to their forever home at the Trust's sister site, Escot in Devon, on Wednesday April 7, 2021. Getty images  
Rescued brown bear cubs, Lucy (left) and Mish (right) explore gifts stuffed with their favorite treats ahead of their move from the Wildwood Trust in Kent to their forever home at the Trust's sister site, Escot in Devon, on Wednesday April 7, 2021. Getty images  
TT
20

Two Bears Escape Wildlife Park Enclosure, Eat a 7-Day Supply of Honey, Then Fall Asleep

Rescued brown bear cubs, Lucy (left) and Mish (right) explore gifts stuffed with their favorite treats ahead of their move from the Wildwood Trust in Kent to their forever home at the Trust's sister site, Escot in Devon, on Wednesday April 7, 2021. Getty images  
Rescued brown bear cubs, Lucy (left) and Mish (right) explore gifts stuffed with their favorite treats ahead of their move from the Wildwood Trust in Kent to their forever home at the Trust's sister site, Escot in Devon, on Wednesday April 7, 2021. Getty images  

Two young bears escaped from their enclosure at a UK wildlife park and devoured a week's worth of food store honey before falling asleep, the park said on Tuesday.

Mish and Lucy, both aged four, got out of their enclosure at Wildwood Devon in southwestern England on Monday afternoon, according to CBS News.

The pair made a beeline for their food store where they scoffed snacks, including the seven-day supply of honey, a park statement said.

The bears “posed no threat to the public at any point” although visitors on site were escorted to a secure building as a precaution.

During the hour-long drama, the bears were “continuously monitored both on the ground and via CCTV” until they were returned to their enclosure by keepers and promptly “fell asleep,” Wildwood added.

“Our experienced keeping team acted immediately, following established safety protocols, and successfully used recall training to encourage both bears back into their enclosure without the need for any intervention,” the park said.

Police were at the scene and an investigation was underway to determine how the animals managed to break out. The park said an “operational error” allowed the bears to escape, without elaborating.

“This was an isolated incident, and we are conducting a full internal investigation to understand exactly how it happened and to ensure robust measures are in place to prevent a reoccurrence," the park wrote on social media.

It added, “While the structural integrity of the bear enclosure remains uncompromised, we take any operational lapse extremely seriously.”

The park, which covers 40 acres of gardens and woodland, is home to an array of wildlife including brown bears, wolves and arctic foxes.

Mish and Lucy were taken in by Wildwood in 2021 after being abandoned by their mother in a snowdrift in the Albanian mountains.

Several attempts were made to reintroduce the cubs into the wild but it became clear to conservationists that they could not survive on their own.