Heavy rain lashes city, two killed as trees fall on them

Torrential rain accompanied by squall lashed the city on Wednesday evening.  Over 40 road side trees got uprooted and traffic jams caused huge inconvenience to the citizens. Trees fell on the overhead line affecting power supply in Sonarpur in South 24 Parganas. A pedestrian was killed while three others injured when a tree fell on them in Jadavpur. Another person died in Beleghata as another tree fell. Trains were suspended in the South section of Sealdah. 

The rain, along with gusty winds, hit the city around 6 pm. Traffic was badly hit after tress got uprooted on Southern Avenue, Sarat Bose Road, Tollygunge Circular Road.

The disaster management team of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) went to the spot and removed the trees. Rows of vehicles standing bumper to bumper were noticed on important 

thoroughfare because of  the heavy shower.

Some city roads were flooded. Earlier, the weather office had predicted heavy to very heavy rain in the city and some South Bengal districts due to a deep depression zone that was lying over Bay of Bengal.

Several areas in the city and South Bengal districts are likely to get heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours due to deep depression zone lying over the Bay of Bengal. An alert has been given to the fishermen who have been asked not to go for deep sea fishing. Trawlers carrying fishermen are waiting at Digha, Rasulpur and Tajpur. It may be recalled that five fishermen died after their trawler capsized last week. 

People living in the low-lying areas of Digha, Mandarmoni and Tajpur have been evacuated and tourists have been requested to not go near the sea and the administration has intensified its vigil. Many tourists who had come to Digha are leaving in the evening because of the alert.

As fallout of the depression, the city and its neighbourhood received sporadic rains accompanied with storm from Tuesday night. Alipore Meteorological Office said that there is a possibility of heavy rainfall in the city in the next 24 hours.

A senior official of Digha- Shankarpur Development Authority said that hundreds of tourists had gathered in Digha to observe full moon on Thursday. Many of them are leaving due to the stormy weather. The administration would keep its staffs on the beach preventing the tourists from going near the sea. The wind speed might go up from Wednesday, he said.

Meanwhile, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) authorities have taken all measures to reduce the duration of waterlogging from its roads. Tarak Singh, Mayor in council (drainage), on Wednesday, had held a meeting with the senior officials of the department and took a stock of the situation. All the pumps at its pumping stations had been kept ready.