Calcutta, Aug 11: The state’s power suppliers had prayed for rain, and the gods have obliged.

A light shower today cooled Calcutta while the districts received heavy rain, accompanied by lightning and thunder. The Met office has predicted more rain during the next 48 hours.

A low-pressure zone over the north-west Bay of Bengal brought thick columns of thunderclouds over Calcutta, North and South 24-Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly this morning.

A few spells of rain kept the maximum temperature in Calcutta down to 31.8 degrees Celsius, a drop of three degrees.

The power supply agencies, struggling to cope with a staggering shortfall over the past few days that led to massive power cuts, said the rain would bring down the demand for electricity.

“If the temperature comes down, the demand will come down as less people will switch on ACs,” said Dilip Sen, the CESC executive director (commercial and main).

Today, the demand for power across the state was about 200MW less than yesterday’s.

The downpour, however, did not prove to be a blessing for all.

Lightning killed six persons, aged between 18 and 30, and a man died in a wall collapse in South 24-Parganas.