Rain batters Kolkata, cripples normal life

Life was thrown out of gear in most parts of the metropolis on Saturday, following torrential rain that led to waterlogging in low-lying areas and snapped road links at several places.

The city received 186.1 mm rainfall in the past 24 hours till around noon on Saturday, the Regional Meteorological Centre here said.

The Met office has forecast heavy rain and the civic body found it tough to drain out rain waters as the precipitation continued throughout the day.

City Mayor Firhad Hakim who went around the city to take stalk of the situation said, "We had very heavy rains and the drainage system has capacity much lower than this.

Therefore many places were waterlogged."

Heavy rainfall forced city dwellers to keep themselves indoors with offices registering very few turnouts.

Commuters were seen wading through knee-deep waters in key thoroughfares, including Ultadanga, Central Avenue, College Street, Shakespeare Sarani, New Alipore, Tollygunge, and Behala.

Vehicular traffic was disrupted in several areas of central, south and north Kolkata, resulting in traffic snarls.

"Most of the pumps are working to clear the water. But certain low lying areas in Kidderpore, Bodyguard Lines and Behala, Thantania Kali Bari, Tollygunge are still under water," the mayor told PTI.

"There are areas where drains are stuck because of plastic and other materials. Otherwise, water has receded in most parts. The rains have also now eased. If it stays this way, things should be back to normal later tonight," he said.

Flight operations were also affected, as take-off and landing was delayed, said a senior official of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport.

Eastern Railway CPRO Nikhil K Chakraborty said circular railway services were cancelled from 10.40 am onwards, due to waterlogging.

Train movement in Sealdah and Howrah sections of the Eastern Railway was slow, but there has been no cancellation so far, Chakraborty said.

Meanwhile, the city's MeT office predicted generally cloudy sky with a few spells of heavy shower on Sunday.

"Heavy to very heavy rain with extremely heavy rain very likely at one or two places over South 24 Parganas district, East and West Midnapore, Kolkata, Burdwan, Howrah, Hooghly, Birbhum, Purulia and Bankura," the weathermen said.

Fishermen are advised not to venture into the sea on Sunday as squally wind speed exceeding 45 kmph and rough to very rough seas is likely over the North West Bay of Bengal, they said.