55mm rain in 12 hours, Kolkata sinks

Photo: TT

TNN | Oct 27, 2013, KOLKATA: Will it ever stop raining this year? The question hung heavy all through Saturday as Kolkata struggled through an unprecedented unseasonal downpour. 

The 155mm deluge has made it the wettest October in at least 15 years. The month's count has exceeded 523mm with five days still to go. The weatherman assures that the sun will come out on Monday, but under the gloomy, dark skies of Saturday, and the warning of another downpour at night, it didn't quite look like a silver line.

 

Kolkatans got a shock when they stepped out into flooded streets on Saturday morning. It had rained all night, with the heaviest downpour in the pre-dawn hours. Pounded by a 12-hour deluge and the tide coming in, the entire city was flooded much faster than the drainage pumps could flush out the rainwater. And with most canals breaking their banks, there was nowhere for the water to go but into homes and offices. Some parts of the city were under chest-deep water — which wasn't seen even in the monsoon. 

Photo: TT

Hammered by 178mm rain, the Behala-Kidderpore-Alipore belt was the worst hit. The water level rose to four feet at night in Pathakpara, Taratala, Sarsuna, Shakuntala Park and stretches of James Long Sarani, Kidderpore and Belvedere Road, forcing sleepy residents on the ground floor to scamper to higher ground. At Behala Flying Club, the rain gauge clocked 162mm. The Alipore weather office recorded 109.5mm rain by 11.30am. In Behala, residents of Ward 128 stormed the pumping house of Ward 126 to prevent water being dumped into their locality. 

The rain eased somewhat around noon but by then the damage was done. Taxis, buses and autorickshaws vanished from the waterlogged streets, leaving officegoers stranded. Private vehicles broke down and had to be pushed off the road. Jodhpur Park, Bhowanipore, Ballygunge, Park Circus, Eliot Road, Central Avenue, Chitpore, Dum Dum, Lake Town and Salt Lake were knee-to waist-deep water. In several areas, power lines were switched off to prevent electrocution. 

In north Kolkata's Posta, a four-storied building collapsed, burying a father and son. While 22-year-old Sanjay Mondal was killed on the spot, his father Ashis (55) died in hospital. Another house collapsed in Sukea Street but no one was hurt.