Rain brings relief, suffering too

A shower of rain on Monday afternoon brought great relief for the city dwellers as well as people in other parts of the country from the heatwave that continued for the past few days. 

It dropped the mercury level by two to three degrees celsius.

At the same time, the sudden moderate rainfall, accompanied by thunderbolts, inundated many parts of the major traffic arteries in Dhaka city, causing severe traffic congestion.

Traffic on the Mirpur Road from the Dhaka City College point, Green Road, Elenbari, Mohakhali, Moghbazar Road, Bijoy Sarani, Farmgate, Gulshan, Nikunja, Kalyanpur and some other places was partially halted and remained very slow due to waterlogging. 

"Due to heavy rainfall traffic gridlocks spread to the entire city," Dhaka Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner (Traffic Gulshan zone) Mostafizur Rahman told The Business Standard. 

The whole city was packed with vehicles as it was a working day, he added.  

The Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded 1 millimetre of monsoon rainfall in Dhaka city on the day.

Starting at 2pm, the rainfall continued for nearly two hours and transmuted to drizzle later. 

Many of the city roads were submerged due to rainfall. Pedestrians were seen walking through knee-deep water. 

Office-goers, especially government service holders, suffered greatly while returning home amid the heavy rainfall and subsequent congestion, as their offices closed at 3pm – following the newly set office time. 

Those whose houses are near their offices returned home wet. Yet, a lot of people remained stuck in the rain for hours.

"I had to wait for a long time due to sudden rain. When the rain stopped, I went out for my home but the entire road was packed with vehicles moving slowly," said Abdus Sattar, who works in a government office in the capital, told The Business Standard. 

"So, I reached home late," he added. 

Meanwhile, street vendors said it was a bad day for them as they had to close their business for the rest of the day. After the rain, there was no way to continue the business on streets and footpaths due to mud and waterlogging. 

24-hour forecast

The Bangladesh Meteorological Department in its 24-hour weather forecast commencing 6pm Monday said light to moderate rain/thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely to continue in many places over Rajshahi, Rangpur, Dhaka, Mymensingh and Sylhet divisions, while a few places in Khulna, Barishal and Chattogram divisions might see moderately heavy to very heavy falls. 

Day and night temperatures, however, may remain nearly unchanged over the country.