Bhubaneswar, June 12: Relief from the sweltering heat is finally here with residents pulling out their brollies and kids taking a jump in muddy puddles.

The southwest monsoon has finally made its entry into Odisha with sharp showers lashing several areas in the coastal belt, including the state capital.

The onset of the monsoon has brought the mercury and humidity levels down providing a welcome relief to citizens here. "Finally, the rains have come to the rescue. The weather was terrible a few days ago and the rain has definitely brought back the smiles," said Kharavela Nagar resident Narayan Mishra.

The local meteorological centre here has issued the statement today stating that the southwest monsoon has set in over some parts of coastal districts of Odisha. "It has covered some parts of the districts of Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore," the statement reads.

"The southwest monsoon has covered some coastal districts and will cover more parts of the state in the next 24 to 48 hours. It will cover the entire state in the next three days. The rains will continue for the state as an effect of the monsoon," said Met director Sarat Chandra Sahu.

Sahu further said that rain and thundershower would continue to occur at many places of the coastal belt and a few pockets of the interior parts of the state till June 17. "We have also issued warning of heavy rainfall for one or two places of the southern parts of the state," said the director.

In the meantime, a low-pressure area that had been brewing over the Bay of Bengal since the past few days, intensified into a depression yesterday and simultaneously into a deep depression today. According to the weather department, the deep depression has moved to Bangladesh, landing at 4.30 this morning.

"We had hoisted storm warning signals at all ports, but lowered it this evening after the system entered the land and weakened into a well-marked low-pressure. However, we have still maintained the warning for fisherman since the impact of the system is still there in the sea," said a Met centre official. The meteorological centre recorded the highest rainfall in the state at 54mm at Daringbadi, 30mm at Titilagarh and 29mm at Jharsuguda. The state capital has received rainfall of 2mm today. The mercury, on the other hand, reached the highest point of 38.1°C at Angul followed by 38°C at Sonepur. Bhubaneswar recorded a maximum temperature of 36°C today.

"The overcast sky with a light drizzle has come as a relief. The Met department has predicted that the rains would be normal this year. I hope that their prediction is right and we won't witness a situation similar to last year when there was not much rain," said Nayapalli resident Sushree Ankita.