With severe heatwave blowing across Rayalaseema for the last fortnight and pushing the mercury levels beyond 42 Celsius mark, several pockets in the region received welcome showers on Sunday. Tirupati witnessed sudden downpour by afternoon, bringing the much-needed relief to pilgrims visiting from various States.

Over the years, Tirupati has received heavy downpour in the first week of May, coinciding with the beginning of the annual folk festival ‘Thathayagunta Gangamma Jatara’, which occurs around the same time. The festival will begin on May 5, and as such, the rain came as no surprise to the native residents. However, the western, as well as the eastern belts of the district, remained breezy and cloudy for the entire day, but witnessed no rainfall.