From an environmental physics point of view, this is not very weird: Warm air holds more absolute amount of water, leading to stronger downpours and longer dry periods. One could also say, the world is getting warmer and this a little “more like summer”. And strong rains converts to strong surface runoff. In other words: Strong rains causes your streets and fields to flood and that water raises the rivers rather than the soil’s moisture. And there we go: The soil is getting drier although there’s more total rainfall.

it's almost as if the CLIMATE is CHANGING ?

That headline sounds like from a cheap scifi horror movie

the planets surface is being heated more than in the past, it could be said that we are cooking