Heavy rainfall lashed South Bengal districts and disrupted normal life in the state capital here, throwing road and rail traffic out of gear since early this morning as most parts of the city were submerged.
The MeT department recorded 133.6-mm rainfall in the last 24 hours till 8.30 am on Saturday and has forecast heavy to very heavy rains in Gangetic West Bengal till Sunday. Cyclone 'Komen', which made landfall in Bangladesh on Thursday, remained practically stationary there and has weakened into a depression, it said. The weather phenomenon would move northwestwards and gradually weaken into a well-marked low-pressure area, the MeT office said.
Flood-like situation was reported in several districts of South Bengal like Howrah, South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore with heavy rains lashing these areas in the last few days.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Friday said that the inclement weather has claimed 39 lives and affected about 7 lakh people, leaving many homeless in the districts.
Several roads in north and south Kolkata remained under knee-deep water owing to the rains. Arterial roads like Central Avenue, Park Street, Theatre Road, Hospital Road, Amherst Street and parts of Diamond Harbour Road were waterlogged, leading to traffic snarls. Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is running 300 pumps from its permanent pumping stations in different parts of the city along with 360 more portable pumps to drain out the water, Mayor in-Council (drainage) member, Tarak Singh, said.
Mamata leaves for Howrah
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who short terminated her visit to UK due to cyclone threat in the state, on Saturday left for flood-hit Udaynarayanpur in Howrah district. "I am going to Udaynarayanpur," Banerjee said at the state secretariat 'Nabanna'. She is expected to visit more flood affected areas soon, officials said. South Bengal districts have been lashed by heavy rains for the past few days triggering a flood-like situation. The situation worsened as very heavy rains lashed the districts since on Friday due to the deep depression following Cyclone Komen.