The city dwellers yesterday (Thursday) breathed a sigh of relief when the port city experienced a rainfall after days of scorching heat and exasperation. However, the rain that started at 12:30pm submerged many low-lying parts of the city causing immense suffering to the city dwellers. Many low-lying areas of the city, including Muradpur, Bahadderhat, Prabartak, Agrabad, Bakalia and Halishahar were seen to go under knee-deep water due to rain. People from all walks of life, especially office-goers, were the worst sufferers of the inclement weather. Unavailability of vehicles and a long queue of traffic added the sufferings to the commuters. The roads saw heavy traffic clogs after the rain that massively slowed down the activities in the city. Commuters were stranded on their way to offices as the sudden water-logging created traffic congestion in the city. Vehicles were seen moving slowly on the streets due to the rain, creating traffic congestion in the areas. Many commuters were seen crossing the roads wading through rainwater. As time rolled on, the congestion was spiraling on the streets causing thousands of vehicles to remain stuck in tailback. The gridlock which started from the noon remained till evening. The highest and lowest temperature recorded in Chittagong city were 33.4 and 24 degree Celsius on Thursday. The Meteorological Department predicted further drop in the temperature at night due to the effect of light wind with drizzling. “We recorded 60 milimetre rainfall till 3pm on Thursday in the city. With the approach of monsoon, Chittagong may experience light to moderate rainfall for a few days,” said Harunur Rashid, Weather Forecast Official of Chittagong Met Office.  
“Though the shower has brought relief to the city life from unbearable heat and humidity, we had to face immense traffic congestion. It usually takes me 45 minutes by bus to reach my residence at Lalkhan Bazar from Patenga. However, today it took around one and a half hours as my bus could not move forward due to water-logging,” said Salma Sultana, teacher of BAF Shaheen College, Chittagong. “We had to wait hours together on the road due to scarcity of public transport,” said Fatema Begum, an apparel worker of CEPZ. The inclement weather disrupted flight operations at Shah Amanat International Airport yesterday (Thursday). Four flights of Biman Bangladesh Airlines and three flights of other international carriers were delayed upto maximum an hour as they could not land or take off at Shah Amanat International Airport, said airport sources.