It's time to rejoice, as the pre-monsoon showers lashed the city since the wee hours, bringing welcome relief to residents. According to the predictions of the weathermen, the showers will continue in spells for another 48 hours. Mr GC Debnath, director of Regional Meteorological Centre Alipore said, "Till 8.30 a.m. the rainfall recorded is 72.4 mm and it is expected the maximum temperature will remain around 32 degree Celsius.' Weather officials said the heavy shower was due to the formation of a low-pressure trough over Gangetic West Bengal, which indicates that the monsoon is near. With the dip in the mercury, the weather is expected to remain pleasant for the next 48 hours. Ruling out any possibility for hot sunny mornings within the next 48 hours, an official said, "Till now there is no possibility of an increase in temperature and this year the monsoon will probably hit the city around 8 June". Meanwhile, much to the embarrassment of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), the first pre-monsoon showers saw several parts of the city water-logged. Large tracts of north and south Kolkata, including Behala went underwater, following the overnight and morning showers. However, traffic movement along major thoroughfares was not affected because of the bandh. Several areas like Thanthania, Chittaranjan Avenue, Muktaram Babu Street, Ultadanga and Manicktala underpass in north Kolkata amongst others went underwater. In south Kolkata, areas like Deshapriya Park, Hindustan Road, Dhakuria Bazaar and Kalighat Road went underwater. Water-logging in the city varied from ankle deep to knee deep. In Behala, the situation was worse with several areas like Modern Park, Sarat Park, Purbadiganta, Purbashree Pally, Doctorpara, James Long Sarani, Nabapally and Purbapally remaining water logged throughout the day. However, areas under borough 13, where sewerage relaying work, under the Kolkata Environment Improvement Project (KEIP), was carried out experienced low water logging. According to civic officials, the city experienced an average of 60 mm of rain during the day with the highest rainfall recorded from Mominpur and Kalighat Drainage Pumping Stations. Officials said the rainfall between 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. was the heaviest. Meanwhile, mayor Mr Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya said there was water logging in several parts of the city. He also said areas which were most prone to water-logging like Sukhia Street, Amherst Street and Park Circus Seven Point Crossing had not experienced water logging. "Pre-monsoon showers have been heavy this year but in areas like Park Circus Seven Point Crossing and Free School Street where de-silting work was carried out, we did not experience water logging,' Mr Bhattacharyya said.