Dhaka experienced its heaviest rainfall of the season early Wednesday (October 1), with six hours of downpour marking the highest precipitation recorded anywhere in Bangladesh during that period.

The rain began just after midnight, accompanied by flashes of lightning and loud thunderclaps that startled many residents awake. What started as light drizzle quickly intensified, with some neighbourhoods also reporting brief power outages.

By 6 am, the capital had recorded 132 millimetres of rainfall in only six hours. The Meteorological Department later confirmed that Dhaka received 203 millimetres over the past 24 hours — likely the city’s highest daily rainfall so far this year.

The Fire Service control room said there were no major incidents reported overnight, though lightning and heavy showers caused minor fires in an electric pole in Sutrapur and sparked alerts over suspected gas fires in Sadarghat and Azimpur. 

“The flames had already extinguished before our teams reached the spot,” duty officer Rakibul Hasan told local media.

Residents described the intensity of the storm as unusual. “I was going to the mosque for morning prayers as usual, but today I had to take an umbrella because of the rain,” said Shariful Islam, a resident of Old Dhaka.

According to meteorologist Tariful Nawaz Kabir, a deep convective cloud system formed due to a low-pressure area in the west-central Bay of Bengal, triggering the heavy rainfall. 

“This system has led to intense thunderstorms and showers across parts of the country,” he said.

The weather office warned that heavy to very heavy rain is likely to continue in Rajshahi, Rangpur and Mymensingh divisions throughout Wednesday, with northern districts such as Bogura already receiving between 44 and 88 millimetres. The unsettled conditions, including rain, strong winds and lightning, may persist until October 4.

SMS/