Updated Oct. 2, 2019 12:58 PM
India's 2019 southwest monsoon season moved into historic territory on Wednesday as it became first monsoon in recorded history not to begin its withdrawal by Oct. 1.
The previous latest start to a monsoon withdrawal was set in Oct. 1, 1961, according to the India Meteorological Department.
This year's monsoon has also gone down as one of the wettest in recent decades with 110 percent of normal rainfall reported across the country as a whole from June through September. This marks the wettest monsoon season since 1994 based on government data.
A group of school children wade through a waterlogged street during monsoon rains in Mumbai, India, Monday, July 8, 2019. India's monsoon season runs from June to September. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
What makes this season's surplus of rainfall even more dramatic is that a 33 percent shortage compared to normal was reported across the country during the month of June.
This was followed by above-normal rainfall amounts in July and August. The historic duration of this monsoon season allowed heavy rainfall to continue for the entire month of September, which resulted in 152 percent of normal rainfall.
People navigate their way through a flooded street as it rains in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019. Incessant rainfall has resulted in flooding in many parts of the city, disrupting traffic movement and daily life in the city. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
This surplus of rain will likely grow even higher through the middle of October as above-normal rainfall is forecast in many locations.
The lengthy and abnormally wet monsoon season has already damaged crops across central and northern India, and additional downpours may affect food supplies and prices across the country in the coming months.
Rescuers and others gather at the spot after heavy rainfall caused a wall to collapse onto shanties, in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, July 2, 2019. More than a dozen people were killed even as forecasters warned of more rains. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
All the flooding in the months leading up to and during the monsoon has claimed the lives of 1,673 people as of Sept. 29, according to the India Home Ministry.
This number may not include all of the 150 people that have died in flooding since Saturday in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Maharashtra was one of the states hardest hit by the flooding and has reported the most flood-related deaths this year with 371.
A big change in the weather pattern is expected to begin next week as a shift in the wind will usher drier air into northwestern India.
This wind shift will mark the beginning of the monsoon's withdrawal; however, weeks of additional rainfall are expected as the dry air slowly builds from northwest to southeast across the country.
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The heaviest and most frequent rainfall will be focused on areas from southern Maharashtra eastward into Telangana, northern Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms will also bring the risk of localized flooding from West Bengal into northeastern India.
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