Morning rain cools Dhaka

Morning shows the day. But yesterday was an exception in the capital. It was a normal sunny morning; children were rushing to school and the office-goers to workplaces.

All of a sudden at around 7:45 the bright sky grew thick with clouds, darkness eerily enveloped every corner, and then came the drizzle.

Pedestrians were hurrying for shelter. Vehicles plying the streets had to turn the headlights on. The next few minutes were filled with the sounds of violent winds, honking, and slamming of windows. And soon the drizzling turned into a downpour that lasted for around an hour.

Roads in Sukrabad, Rajabazar, Green Road, Dhanmondi, Shantinagar, Shajahanpur and other parts were inundated exposing the poor drainage facility in the city ahead of the monsoon.

The commuters suffered, as motor vehicles and rickshaws got stranded on the roads.

Several districts also experienced rain as nor'westers swept through Pabna, Sirajganj, Bogra, Dhaka, and Faridpur, Kamrul Hasan, an on-duty meteorologist at Dhaka Met office, told The Daily Star.

There was 7mm of rain in the capital between 6:00am to 9:00am, he said, while the rain with gusts of up to 80km/hr hit the southern parts of the country including Chittagong, Comilla and Noakhali yesterday afternoon.

Meanwhile, a gas supply line ruptured around 9:30 beneath Top Collection Lane in Purana Paltan, said Masud Munshi, duty officer of Paltan Police Station.

It, however, did not cause any damage, he said, adding that technicians from Titas Gas along with fire fighters and local police fixed the leak.

A fire official also confirmed there was no damage.