North Bengal districts set to receive downpour

Kolkata: The Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore on Wednesday predicted heavy rainfall in all the North Bengal districts in the next three days, while the South Bengal districts are likely to receive scattered rainfall.

The MeT office also said that there may be thundershower and lightning in some parts of South Bengal, in the evening hours of Thursday and Friday. Interestingly, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday instructed the state Forest department to plant several coconut trees across the state, in a bid to arrest lightning strikes.

Banerjee told the Forest department that many people from across the state have been killed after being struck by lightning in the past few months. The number of such incidents has gone up considerably compared to the earlier times.

As a result, Banerjee felt the need of sowing more coconut trees to save the loss of human lives. The Chief Minister stated that the Forest department would work in tandem with the environment department to implement the scheme.

According to the prediction, districts like Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Kalimpong will receive heavy rainfall in the next three days. The situation may improve after the next Saturday.

Meanwhile, South Bengal districts including the city may receive light to moderate rainfall, with the monsoon axis becoming active. The Western districts like Purulia, Bankura, Birbhum as well as the coastal districts may witness marginally higher rainfall compared to the other South Bengal districts.

The city's sky mostly remained cloudy in its various parts from Wednesday morning. It received light rainfall in some parts later in the day. Moderate to heavy rainfall lashed the districts like North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Hooghly, Howrah and Nadia in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, the weather office has issued an alert to the coastal districts saying that the sea may be turbulent in the next 48 hours. The district administrations in East Midnapore and South 24-Parganas have been asked to be extra cautious and conduct a surveillance to check any untoward incidents.

Security measures have been beefed up in all the beach towns in East Midnapore, following the weather alert. Visitors are not being allowed to go to the sea for bathing.

Three fishermen from Sankarpur in East Midnapore went missing in the sea on Monday, while three others managed to drift ashore onto East Midanpore coast with the help of oil barrels, after the boat they were sailing in capsized mid-sea due to rough weather.

The boat had developed a snag 10 nautical miles away from the Sankarpur coast in the district.