Rains Lash Dhaka, Triggering Heavy Traffic

Dhaka woke up to a rainy and pleasant morning on Saturday, thanks to a nor'wester that lashed the metropolis.

The weather department recorded 42mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours till 6am.

"Showers are likely occur in Dhaka, Rangpur and Bogra districts in the next 24 hours,” said Monowar Hossain, a meteorologist at Bangladesh Meteorological Department.

Though the showers brought the much-needed reprieve to the residents from the sizzling summer heat, they brought back the obvious miseries -- rush-hour traffic snarls.

The worst affected were the office-goers and school-going children as traffic crawled in several busy stretches of the densely populated metropolis due to the rains.

“Rain or thundershowers with intense lightning flashes and temporary gusty or squally wind is likely to occur at many places over Rangpur, Rajshahi, Dhaka, Mymensingh, and Sylhet divisions,” according to a Met Office bulletin on Friday morning.

Chittagong, Khulna, and Barisal divisions may experience moderately heavy to heavy rainfall, the release added.

The highest temperature on Friday was recorded at 37.6°C in Khulna's Jessore, while the minimum temperature was 20.8°C in Rangpur's Rajarhat._UNB