Heavy rains lashed several parts of Tamil Nadu since Wednesday night heralding the much-awaited North-East Monsoon bringing succor and relief to farmers of the region.

While the South-West monsoon season has ended the entire country on Thursday, the Regional Meteorological Center (RMC) here is in a dilemma over formally declaring the “onset” of the North-East monsoon this year. Technically, the North-East monsoon has set in over Tamil Nadu, six days earlier than last year when it hit the Coromandel Coast on Oct 24. “But the formal declaration of its onset has to wait till it sets in the adjoining areas (of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka),” said Dr S R Ramanan, Director, RMC in Chennai on Thursday.

The rains have been keenly anticipated, particularly by farmers’ in Tamil Nadu in the backdrop of a 23 per cent deficit in the seasonal rains.

With rains lashing several places in Tamil Nadu and at a few places over Kerala since Wednesday night, farmers have now renewed hope for their standing crops, mainly paddy and millets.

Several areas under the Cauvery delta recorded a maximum of 8 cm and 7 cm of rain during the last 24 hours, the Met office said. Chennai City received 7 cm of rainfall while claiming two lives. Ramanan said with the South-West monsoon gone, conditions were favourable for North-East monsoon in the entire Southern region.