Kolkata grapples with flooding as heavy rain paralyses city

Kolkata struggled to return to normalcy on Wednesday as several areas, particularly Salt Lake and pockets of north and central part of the city, remained waterlogged, a day after torrential rain left 10 people dead and threw life out of gear in the metropolis.

The Met department has ruled out heavy rain in the city during the next 24 hours, though it forecast mostly cloudy skies with light to moderate showers accompanied by thunder and gusty winds at some places.

Water was pumped out of low-lying areas of Kolkata and adjoining areas through the night, but residents of Bidhannagar continued to reel under flooding, with vehicles moving at a snail's pace and pedestrians forced to navigate inundated lanes.

To avoid accidents, the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation kept street lights switched off on Tuesday evening.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had deferred her scheduled Durga Puja pandal inaugurations on Tuesday due to the inclement weather, is expected to visit the marquees on Wednesday, as well as launch a newly constructed fire station at Kalighat.

Officials said though floodwaters have started receding gradually, restoring normal life before the festive season remains the administration's immediate challenge.

The situation in Kolkata and adjoining districts will be closely watched on Wednesday with more rain on the radar, they said.

At least 10 people were killed, nine of them due to electrocution, as torrential overnight rain – among the heaviest in nearly four decades – left Kolkata and adjoining districts paralysed on Tuesday, crippling air, rail and road transport, shutting educational institutions, and prompting the state government to advance Puja holidays.

The downpour – 251.4 mm in less than 24 hours – was the highest since 1986 and sixth-highest single-day rainfall in the last 137 years, only behind the record 369.6 mm in 1978, 253 mm in 1888, and 259.5 in 1986.

It turned arterial roads into rivers, snapping Metro Rail and train services, and throwing air travel into disarray, as the city gasped for normalcy ahead of Bengal's biggest festival - Durga Puja.