Rains lashed the city early on Friday morning bringing some cheer among the residents of the temple city for the pleasant weather. There were intermittent showers which lasted till 9 a.m. in many parts of the city and the showers continued at 4 p.m. for a brief while as well.
The weather in the city remained overcast for the rest of the day and many Deepavali shoppers were seen frequenting the textile and Jewellery shops on West Masi Street and South Masi Street.
H .Vanathy, a shopper from S.S. Colony who had come to a utensils and electronics showroom near Vilakkuthoon said that she had planned a shopping trip early in the day at 9 a.m. to avoid the crowds but had got caught stuck in a traffic jam due to the rains in the morning.
The morning showers had however resulted in traffic snarls in several parts of the city with water stagnating in areas such as Kamarajar Salai, Chinthamani, Palanganatham, Anna Nagar and Vilakkuthoon. The battered road near the under-construction Palanganatham bridge had water stagnated at many places and proved to be a tough stretch to navigate for pedestrians and motorists.
“There are many school and college buses as well as two wheelers which use this road and on rainy days, it becomes impossible to navigate the stretch and we see traffic snarls on a daily basis,” said S. Muthuraj, a resident of the area.
Water stagnation in a few areas in Race Course Road after the rains over the past week had also affected morning walkers and joggers.
The Indian Meteorological Department in its district-level weather prediction has forecast an average rainfall of over 25 mm in the district over the next five days.
