Surat city gets first monsoon showers

SURAT, June 17: The city received its first monsoon showers on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, bringing the much-needed relief to the citizens from the heat. Most parts of the city received sharp spells of rains on Wednesday night and also during the early hours of the day. Until 5.30 pm, the city had received 9.2 mm of rainfall.

More rainfall has been forecast in the entire South Gujarat region and while the skies remained overcast throughout the day, there have been reports of heavy showers in Valsad, Dangs and Navsari districts in the past 24 hours. Chilly winds also blew through the city before noon on Thursday and the meteorology department here, while predicting more rainfall accompanied by strong winds in the coastal areas, have advised fishermen not to venture out into the sea.

However, the first fall-out of the rains has been the sale of mangoes that dipped since June 5, when the city received light pre-monsoon showers. The sale of mangoes dips after the rains as worms begin to develop inside the fruit.

Although the monsoon has set in Surat city today, coastal parts of South Gujarat have been receiving heavy rains since Tuesday night. More talukas of the district are expected to receive rainfall in the next 24 hours, the meteorology department here said.