Page:Vizagapatam.djvu/167

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It will be seen that the average annual fall in the plains is 41 inches, and in the Agency as a whole 57 inches. The wettest part of the district is the strip beyond the 3,000 feet plateau (Jeypore, Malkanagiri and Naurangpur taluks) in parts of which the fall is 75 inches, of which no less than 65 inches is brought by the south-west monsoon; next comes the 3,000 feet plateau itself (Koraput, PAdwa and Pottangi) with an average of 59 inches; then the lower Parvatipur Agency (Bissamkatak, Gunupur and Rayagada) with 47 inches ; after that the submontane stations on the plains (such as Chodavaram, Salur and Palkonda) with 44 inches; and last those on the coast, average 37 inches, of which Polavaram (only 31 inches) is the most unfortunate of all. It will thus be noticed that the fall decreases steadily in these tracts according as each is further and further removed from the point where the south-west monsoon first strikes the district. This current parts with the chief portion of its moisture in the tract it reaches first, and has little left for those over which it passes later on.

In the case of the north-east monsoon the conditions are reversed; and while places on the coast, like Waltair and Bimlipatam, get from 14 to 16 inches, Jeypore and Naurangpur, beyond the ghats and the last to be reached by the current, only get from 4 to 6 inches. This monsoon, however, is of much less importance to the welfare of the district than the south-west.