It has been raining since the night. At around seven o’clock this Sunday morning, the rain intensified further. Darkness enveloped the day.
This was the time when residents of the capital rush to their workplaces, while students hurry to classes.
Obayed (pseudonym), a resident of Monipuripara in the capital, left home with his child slightly earlier than usual because the child had an examination scheduled for 8:00 am at an educational institution in Asad Gate.
They usually travel by rickshaw on this route. However, upon reaching the stand, he found only a couple of rickshaws there, and no one agreed to take them.
After waiting for some time, they finally found a CNG-run auto-rickshaw.
The vehicle initially moved smoothly, but as it approached Manik Mia Avenue, it became trapped in severe traffic congestion.
With the examination time approaching rapidly, Obayed remained stuck in traffic inside the auto-rickshaw.
His child eventually had to run through the rain towards the educational institution. Many roads were waterlogged, causing the heavy congestion.
People across the capital began the first work day of the week amid similar difficulties.
In different parts of the city, many people stood under umbrellas waiting for transport. The rain started to ease after approximately 8:15 am.
After heavy rainfall causing severe hardship for city residents in the morning, the sky cleared and heat intensified later in the day.
At the time of writing this report, around 9:30 am, the temperature in the capital had risen by 4 degrees Celsius within just one hour.
The Meteorological Department said there remains a possibility of more rain later this afternoon or evening.
According to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, Dhaka received 59 millimetres of rainfall between 3:00 am on Saturday night and 9:00 am today, Sunday.
Meteorologist AK Nazmul Islam told Prothom Alo on Sunday, “This is a significant amount of rainfall for the capital.”
Rainfall measuring between 44 and 88 millimetres is classified as heavy rainfall. Amounts exceeding that threshold are considered very heavy rainfall.
This weather pattern is characteristic of the period before the arrival of the monsoon. Sudden intense heat often leads to the formation of clouds and thunderstorms, and once the rain subsides, temperatures rise again quickly, as happened today, Sunday.
At around 7:30 am, when cool and gusty winds accompanied the rain, the temperature stood at 23.6 degrees Celsius. By 9:30 am, it had risen to 27.4 degrees Celsius.
Meteorologist AKM Nazmul Haque said, “At present, the heat feels much stronger. It is what we describe as humid heat. The air contains a large amount of moisture, which intensifies the feeling of heat.”