In about 3 hours, Siliguri gets over 200mm rainfall, some parts flooded

darjeeling: With Siliguri receiving record rainfall on Monday evening, low lying areas have been inundated. The Siliguri Municipal Corporation authorities took stock of the situation on Tuesday with a control room opened up. Relief material has also been distributed to affected families.

Siliguri had received record rainfall of more than 200 mm from 3:45pm to 7pm on Monday evening. The heavy rainfall had affected 42 wards out of 47 wards of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation.

SMC figures state that 32,500 people have been affected along with 505 houses damaged.

On Tuesday a SMC team led by Deputy Mayor Ranjan Sarkar visited affected areas to take stock of the situation. "The SMC teams have been working round the clock since Monday evening. We have opened up a control room. Food, drinking water is being distributed to affected families. We have cleaned up the main drains and link drains. Water has drained out in most of the water logged areas. However we are still working in some areas which have been facing this problem for years. We are trying to come out with a solution for such areas," added the Deputy Mayor.

Three medical teams of the SMC visited affected areas with disinfectants. 15 quintals of food grains along with 1500 tarpaulin sheets have been distributed from 5 borough offices of the SMC to affected families.

"We are still conducting an assessment of loss of property, damage to culverts and roads" stated Sarkar.

Meanwhile working on a war footing the landslide at Tindharia that had affected the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway services, has been repaired. The Darjeeling-NJP passenger service of the DHR has resumed.

The National Highway 10 to Sikkim also remained open on Tuesday with no reports of fresh landslides.