Heavy rains lashed parts of Ernakulam district, including parts of Kochi and its suburbs, on Sunday night and Monday morning, bringing much needed relief after a long and unusually sweltering spell of summer.
Areas like West Kochi and the city’s eastern fringes received the heaviest showers on Monday morning, while the heart of the city experienced less heavy rain. The unexpected rain also caused traffic jams during the morning rush hours.
According to Meteorological Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, 32.4 mm of rain was recorded at the naval airport in the city on Monday while 29.4 mm of rain was recorded at the Cochin International Airport. The showers also helped bring down the temperature substantially during the day. The Met data also showed that the neighbouring district of Alappuzha received 33 mm of rain on Monday.
The long dry spell had posed a serious threat to the availability of drinking water in the city. The fleecing of customers by private water suppliers had forced the district administration to intervene and make water pricing more transparent. Ernakulam district as a whole had received deficit rain between January 1 and February 28, 2017. Neighbouring districts such as Idukki, Kottayam and Alappuzha have not received the normal quantum of rain during the period.
Meanwhile, the hot weather season (March to May) outlook for 2017 from the Indian Meteorological Department had said at the end of February that 2016 was the warmest year since 1901 and that the “prevalence of significantly above normal temperatures continued in January 2017”. The outlook for the March-May period also suggested above normal temperatures.
