Rainy day in town

AHMEDABAD: After nearly a month-long dry spell, heavy rains lashed most parts of the city on Thursday evening. However, the monsoon party is not yet over. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is expecting moderate to heavy rainfall in next couple of days.

"The low pressure from Orissa has currently reached east Madhya Pradesh and is giving good rainfall in south and central Gujarat. We were expecting it to cover the state on Thursday but its movement is a little slow. It is expected to cover the whole state and give abundant rainfall all over for the next two three days," said Kamaljeet Ray, director of IMD, Gujarat.

Ankit Shah, a resident of Satellite, said, "These rains came as a huge relief, though the joy was short-lived. I along with my friends went to Law Garden to soak ourselves and have bhajiyas and corn."

Another resident Anjali Bhargava said in the evening on seeing the hovering clouds, she along with her kids decided to go to the Prahladnagar Garden. "However, we were not sure whether it would rain. My younger daughter Aanya was thrilled."

Late in the evening, the city received heavy rainfall for nearly 30 minutes. However, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) control room said the city received only 0.54 cm of rainfall. The eastern part of the city received 1.433 cm rains, followed by west zone 0.567 cm, new west zone and central zone receiving 0.4 cm of rainfall. South zone in the city received only 0.35 cm and north zone 1 cm. There were no reports of any tree feeling or rain-related casualties.

According to the state control room, no port warnings or cautionary notes have been issued to fishermen in western and southern Gujarat.

State control room authorities said the second round of monsoon is about 10-12 days late and just 2 to 4 cm of rain is not enough to completely salvage the crop. However, this can be considered as a good start of the second round.

If the monsoon remains active, farmers in 11 of the 26 districts which received less than 40 per cent rainfall since July 27 would be able to start a fresh round of sowing, an official said. He said 37 talukas of 11 districts have received rainfall on Thursday.