Weather office warns of heavy rain across Bengal till Friday

Kolkata: Heavy rain disrupted normal life in several parts of south Bengal on Thursday and more rains are expected in the next 24 hours. The MeT office on Thursday forecast heavy downpour in the sub-Himalayan districts of the state till Friday.

School and office-goers had a tough time reaching their destination on Thursday morning owing to moderate to heavy downpour throughout the night. Salt Lake recorded the maximum rainfall in the state in 24 hours till 8:30 am on Thursday at 109 mm, while Kolkata received over 66 mm rain during the same period, the MeT office said.

Fairly widespread rain is likely to take place in various parts of Bengal during the next three days and scattered to fairly widespread rain during the subsequent four days, it said in a forecast. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in Nabanna, told reporters that there is a possibility of heavy rainfall during Mahalaya that falls on Wednesday next week.

Owing to the moderate to heavy rainfall overnight, normal life was partially affected in Kolkata and several other districts of south Bengal. Several parts of south Bengal received overnight rainfall.

The MeT warned of very heavy rain with extremely heavy downpour at one or two places in the sub-Himalayan districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Coochbehar till Friday morning. All the districts in south Bengal, including Kolkata, are also likely to receive heavy rain till Friday morning, it said.

Some streets in Kolkata and neighbouring Salt Lake were waterlogged and public transport was less than normal due to rain, which has been occurring since Wednesday morning. The hills in north Bengal received significantly high rainfall during the period, with Kalimpong getting 107 mm rain and Darjeeling closely following at 103 mm, the Met data said.