Forecast of more showers in next 2 days; death toll touches 46

Casting a shadow on the improvement of the flood status in some parts of the state, the Regional Meteorological Office in Alipore has predicted more showers in the next two days in some districts.

The death toll in the floods touched 46 on Tuesday. Various districts in South Bengal have witnessed rainfall on Monday among which the North and South 24 Parganas, East and West Burdwan, Howrah and Hooghly have received moderate to heavy rainfall.

According to the weather office, a monsoon trough has been spreading from Gorakhpur to Assam while a low pressure trough has been hovering over a stretch from the Himalayan districts in the north up to Bay of Bengal bringing more rain in various districts in the next 48 hours.

There is a prediction of heavy rainfall in Purulia and East Midnapore while the Himalayan districts will receive moderate rainfall. People in the South Bengal districts may witness sultry and discomfort weather due to high humidity level.

In various flood-affected districts, water level has begun to recede but people do not know yet what is in store for them especially after there are predictions of more rain.

The local administration in West Midnapore started repairing works of the damaged portion of the embankments of Silabati river at Pratappur of Ghatal. The flood situation in Daspur in West Midnapore has not improved much. Some of the villagers in both the places have alleged that the relief materials are not properly reaching the area.

According to sources, around 3,17,675 hectare paddy fields, 2,58,296 hectare of wheat fields have been destroyed due to the floods. Some parts of Ghatal in West Midnapore, Dhanekhali in Hooghly are still under water. The districts which have been badly affected by the floods are Murshidabad, Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, East Burdwan, Birbhum, Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram, West Midnapore, East Midnapore.