Heavy rain batters parts of southern, western districts

Coimbatore experienced widespread rain on Monday morning, bringing cheers to the residents. The downpour that started around 11.30 am in the city continued for an hour. Several other parts in the district also experienced a heavy spell during the same duration. Water managers said that the rains would help in recharging groundwater. 

The Nilgiris, which was experiencing mild showers, was lashed by heavy rains on Monday afternoon. Udhagamandalam town and nearby areas were battered for over an hour from 1 pm to 2.30 pm. Water was flowing like stream at several key places of tourist interest like Government Botanical Garden and arterial roads in many towns. Water bodies were showing marginal improvement in their storage. 

Sathyamangalam in Erode district witnessed heavy showers for close to two hours in the afternoon. Officials expressed happiness as the sudden showers would end water and fodder crisis for the wild animals as the forests to received good showers. Meanwhile, several parts of southern districts also experienced good rains which brought down the mercury significantly.

Though the state meteorological department had forecast that southern districts would receive rain from a low pressure area that has formed south of Kanniyakumari not many places received rainfall till Monday. Madurai was the first to receive rainfall on March 2 followed by Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram districts on March 3 and 4. The showers brought the much-needed respite from the sweltering heat and drought to the public and farmers. 

However, on Monday, several parts of Kanniyakumari and Tirunelveli received heavy downpour. The rain had brought relief to the residents of Tiruneveli who were already suffering from severe drinking water crisis. 

A majority of the dams were receiving good inflow following the sudden rains. Officials were waiting for the current spell to get the exact readings of the rise in storage in the waterbodies in both the districts. In the evening, several places in outskirts of Madurai received heavy rain. Rural areas received intense rain for more than an hour while there was mere drizzling in many parts of Madurai city.

The trough at mean sea level over southwest Bay of Bengal off Tamil Nadu-Sri Lanka coast has moved away westwards and now extends from Comorin area to South Chhattisgarh across interior Tamil Nadu, Rayalaseema and Telangana. Under its influence, light to moderate rain or thundershowers is likely to occur at isolated places in Telangana, Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema during the next five days, Meteorological Department said in a bulletin here on Monday.