Another spell of rain sends city denizens scurrying for cover

The low pressure formed in the upper air of the Bay of Bengal on Saturday at North-west direction, gained strength on Sunday. The low pressure, which created the deep depression on the Gangetic Bengal, resulted in another heavy rainfall in evening which was almost identical to Saturday’s downpour. Kolkata and Howrah, along with the adjoining towns witnessed heavy downpour which marred the weekend. People were stuck in traffic in the middle of the roads while some of them found shelters under flyovers, basement of the buildings and shops.

The MeT department predicted heavy thundershower in the next 72 hours in Bengal on Saturday. The scientists in the Regional Meteorological Centre stuck to their opinion saying that after another 48 hours sunny days would be back again. “The deep depression will go towards Bangladesh, but it will take time. Kolkata and districts will receive heavy thunderstorm for next two days,” the scientists said.

With South and North Bengal facing torrential rain, the fishermen were also alerted to avoid the deep sea fishing.

The weathermen said, it is still a cyclonic circulation and is likely to strengthen the low pressure in every angle. Odisha and Jharkhand will also be affected along with West Bengal.

The movement of the low pressure would be strong and the movement would be fast to medium through Gangetic Bengal causing a cloudburst.

The rainfall would continue till Tuesday, but there will not be any considerable change in the maximum and minimum temperature during the period as it would be around 32 degrees Celsius and 26 degrees Celsius respectively.

The strong South-west monsoon current made the southwesterly wind speed around 45 to 55 Kmph alongside coastal Bengal. Heavy or moderate rainfall at different places of Burdwan, Birbhum, Bankura, Howrah, Hooghly, Murshidabad, Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas, Purulia, East and West Midnapore, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar will continue.

Kolkata received 38 mm of rainfall on an average as Ultadanga recorded 107 mm, Central Avenue recorded 87 mm and Southern Avenue recorded 50 mm.

Purulia recorded 20 mm, Panagarh in Burdwan district recorded 65 mm, Haldia in East Midnapore 25 mm, Salt Lake in North 24 Parganas recorded 15 mm, Dumdum 10 mm and Barrackpore 10 mm of rainfall in last 24 hours.

However, this unstoppable rainstorm caused several problems to the commuters. The office goers, students, shop keepers are the ones who suffered the most. The stormy wind, heavy rainfall accompanied by water logging in some low-lying area of the city was a cause of concern for the citizens.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) successfully drained out the stagnant water from most of the roads, but the civic officials had to battle with the weather condition every moment. “We are ready with our pumping stations. The civic officials are working day and night to keep the city moving,” said Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee.