began Monday night and continued through last night, a US Naval Oceanography Command Facility forecaster said yesterday.

He added that rainfall for the year so far is already above average with some 18 inches being recorded since January 1 (including yesterday). Normally, an average of 15.45 inches of rain falls between January 1 and April 15.

Between 5 p.m. on Monday and Press time last night, just over three inches of rain had fallen with showers expected to continue until about midnight. An average of 3.5 inches of rain normally falls in April, the forecaster said.

"I have a feeling we will eclipse the level of 3.5 inches by tonight (Tuesday) and definitely be above average for the month,'' he said.

He added the showers were expected to begin tapering off late last night and the Island should see sunny skies by this afternoon.

There should be lots of sunshine over the Easter weekend, he said, but light winds may hamper kite flying.

Temperatures are expected to be in the low 70s over the weekend and winds about 10-15 knots and out of the south.

The forecaster said the heavy rainfall was the result of a low pressure off the Bahamas which began moving slowly towards Bermuda on the weekend and was located 150 miles southwest of the Island yesterday evening.

Water damage caused by the wet weather caused traffic lights at the Par-la-Ville Road North-Church Street junction and Parliament and Victoria Streets in Hamilton to break down. A Police spokesperson said they were expected to be fixed by 9 a.m. this morning.