Coimbatore: People who woke up to a cloudy and chilly morning on Thursday, saw light rainfall from 10am, which steadily turned to heavy rain by 12.30pm.
The two hours of continuous rainfall left the city’s underpasses unusable and led to the old Avinashi Road flyover getting clogged with vehicles in the afternoon despite it being a non-peak hour.
Water stagnated in many parts of Sungam, Ramanathapuram and Podanur. Weather experts predict that light and isolated rain will continue in the district until January 6.
The cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal, which was initially expected to bring rainfall only to coastal areas, saw the rain extend well into the state right up to Coimbatore. Maximum temperatures were as low as 23 C for most part of the day and dipped to 21 C. The extent of rain received will be known only on Friday morning.
“Light and highly isolated rains will continue on and off in Coimbatore until January 6,” said Mahesh Palawat, chief meteorologist, Skymet Weather Services.
“These showers are also part of the northeast monsoon. However, from January 1, we do not expect to receive rain as heavy as Thursday. It will be light and almost negligible,” said S P Ramanathan, director of the Agro Climate Research Centre of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.
The showers left many roads in parts of Sungam, Ramanathapuram, Singanallur and Podanur in a mess. The affected areas also included R S Puram, Saibaba Colony and Vadavalli.
“Those roads were dug up for drainage connection and water connection work,” said Anandhi V, a resident of Sungam. “Mud scooped out while digging turned to slush covering the roads by Thursday afternoon.”