Incessant rains throw life out of gear in south & north dists

kolkata: Incessant rainfall caused due to a low pressure over Bay of Bengal threw life out of gear both in south and north Bengal districts on Tuesday with landslides on National Highway 10 halting the vehicular traffic between Siliguri and Sikkim/Kalimpong.

Water from Bay of Bengal entered into the villages along the coasts.

The Regional Meteorological Centre on Tuesday predicted that the low pressure may gain some strength and move towards Odisha as a result the coastal districts may receive rainfall in the next 24 hours.

The weather office predicted that Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Jalpaiguri may receive some spells of heavy rain in the next 24 hours while other districts in the north may witness light to moderate rainfall accompanied by lightning.

It started raining in Kolkata and its surrounding areas around 11 am on Tuesday and incessant rainfall led to inundation in some places.

Some parts of Central Avenue, Thanthania, Bidhan Sarani, Rabindra Sadan and several other areas remained inundated for some time.

As the lock-gates were closed due to high tide till afternoon, it took some time to discharge accumulated water in some pockets of the city.

The drainage department officials of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation worked on a war footing to discharge the accumulated water.

The highest temperature in the city remained at 33.1 degree Celsius and the lowest temperature stood at 25.8 degree Celsius. Rains brought some relief to the city dwellers from sweltering heat.

Landslides occurred at several places along the National Highway 10 since early Monday morning resulting in complete disruption of traffic initially but the local administration worked on a war footing and vehicular movement was resumed through one way. Another landslide on Tuesday disrupted vehicular movement. The repair works were undertaken on a war footing and traffic movement was expected to be normal late Tuesday evening. North Bengal districts have been receiving rainfall for the past couple of days.

Water from the Bay of Bengal entered into some of the hotels situated close to the beaches in Digha in East Midnapore.

Locals said tidal waves with an approximate height of 30 feet hit the guard-wall along the coastline.

Water gushed into several villages along the Shankarpur-Digha coast. The district administration stepped up efforts to evacuate people from the coastline.

Police teams were kept at each beach so that the visitors did not go to the beaches.

A low pressure that has been created over the Bay of Bengal also contributed to the high tidal wave in Digha and other coastal areas.

Water entered into the market place in Digha and also to many villages situated along the coast. Local shop owners downed their shutters as the weather turned inclement since Tuesday morning.

The police administration carried out surveillance along the beaches to check any untoward incidents.

MeT office had earlier predicted rainfall in various south Bengal districts on Tuesday. As it was predicted several districts including Kolkata, North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly received incessant rainfall from Tuesday morning leading to inundation in some pockets.