Heavy rains to hit West Bengal in next 48 hours

ENS, | Kolkata | July 27, 2015: The MeT department has forecast heavy rains on Monday and extremely heavy rains from Tuesday in Gangetic West Bengal even as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that all precautionary measures have been taken by the administration to deal with the situation. 

“I have formed a task force led by Home Secretary Basudeb Banerjee to monitor the situation. Parts of Birbhum, Murshidabad, Burdwan, North and South-24 Parganas are submerged owing to the downpour. The district administration along with the respective civic bodies have been directed to be on alert and stay prepared,” Mamata said, before leaving for her five-day trip to London on Sunday. 

“If there is an emergency situation, I will curtail the trip and return,” she added. 

While heavy rains have been forecast on Monday in Gangetic West Bengal, heavy to very heavy rainfall would occur in several districts on Tuesday and Wednesday, said a senior Met Department official. 

The rainfalls are a result of a depression over northeast Bay of Bengal, which lay 60 km southeast of Patuakhali (Bangladesh) at 2.30 PM on Sunday, the official said. The system was likely to remain stationary but might turn into a deep depression during the next 48 hours, the Met Office website said. 

Meanwhile, districts such as North and South-24 Parganas, East and West Midnapore, Howrah and Hooghly were inundated after experiencing heavy rainfall throughout the day. People were seen wading through knee-high water in Salt Lake, Behala and other parts of Central Kolkata. 

Deputy mayor Iqbal Ahmed said, “Even in the absence of Mayor Sovan Chatterjee, there will be no problem in handling the situation. The MMICs are doing their bit.” 

In Murshidabad, several areas of Kandi and Jangipur got submerged owing to the downpour and release of water from barrages. Kandi-Salar state highway near Angarpur Bridge and Farakka-Haldia state highway near Biplabi Setu were cut off. About 25 flood shelters have been put up in Kandi. 

Basudeb Banerjee said there was no reason to panic at the moment as the state was prepared with relief materials to deal with an emergency situation. 

“We are closely monitoring the situation, especially the catchment areas. Patharpratima in South-24 Parganas and Labhpur in Birbhum are some of the worst affected areas along with some areas of Burdwan and Murshidabad. All the barrages are at a high level. There are localised floods, but at the moment there is nothing to worry about,” Banerjee told The Indian Express. 

“We are in touch with the CM and are updating her of the developments. We have to deal with the situation as and when it develops,” he added.