Bhubaneswar, Sept. 5: A sudden afternoon thundershower that continued till the night dampened Janmasthami celebrations in the city.

An official at the local meteorological centre said Cuttack and Bhubaneswar received a considerable amount of rainfall this afternoon. While Cuttack recorded around 3mm rain, Bhubaneswar received 0.7mm rainfall.

The weather continued to be cloudy in the evening with intermittent rain forcing many people to stay indoors.

"Light or moderate rainfall and thundershowers may occur at many places. Besides, there are chances of heavy rainfall on September 7 and 8. The rain would occur mostly in the coastal and southern parts of the state," said a Met official.

The rain throughout the evening, however, played spoilsport to all those, who had planned to visit temples to celebrate Janmasthami. To mark the occasion, schools, colleges and government offices remained closed today.

The rain also created trouble for those, who had observed a daylong fast for Janmasthami and planned to break it after visiting the nearby temples in the evening. "As the rain continued throughout the evening, I got entirely drenched while going to the temple," said local resident Shoumya Sahu.

However, despite the rain, the Ram mandir, Iskcon temple and other such shrines saw a number of devotees visiting.

Janmasthami is observed as the birthday of Lord Krishna, and on this occasion, most temples in the state perform special rituals.

The Jagannath temple in Puri also had several special rituals performed on this day and the temple administration had made arrangements for devotees, who came in large numbers for a darshan.

"I visited the Iskcon temple with my family and ate the special cake cut here every year. There was extreme heat throughout the day, and the showers brought temporary relief," said Annapurna Mohanty, a homemaker.