Unseasonal rain brings relief in TN

Chennai, Mar 11 (UNI) Tamil Nadu received unseasonal rains due to an upper air trough with the city of Tuticorin experiencing heavy downpour.

Heavy rains lashed Tuticorin district on Thursday and yesterday, inundating at least five villages and triggering floods in jungle streams, damaging the Tuticorin-Ottapidaram highway.

A one km stretch on the state highway was severely damaged, official sources said. The district recorded a total rainfall of 49 cm in the last 24 hours, till 0800 hrs yesterday.

Attributing an upper air trough as the reason for the uneasonal rains, the weather office here said Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Union territory of Pondicherry would experience rain or thundershowers at a few places in the next 48 hours.

However, showers came as a welcome relief for the people, who had been sweating under oppressive heat for the past one week, with mercury touching 34 degree celsius, eventhough the onset of summer is at least a month away.

According to reports received here, besides Tuticorin, parts of Tirunelveli, Virudhunagar, Tirukovilur, Neyveli and Pondicherry experienced showers.

The city and its suburbs would be partly cloudy and showers or thundershowers would occur at few places during the next 24 hours, the weather office said.

UNI WS VV MA BS1514