Wet alert: more rain forecast on all Puja days - Fear of heavy showers on last 2 days

A murky sky and a rain-soaked street could not dampen the spirits of pandal-hoppers in south Calcutta on Sashthi. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

TT, Oct. 7: Calcutta and its surrounding areas could receive more rainfall over the Puja days because of a cyclonic circulation that has travelled to the Bengal-Odisha border from the Bay of Bengal and is likely to move more into land.

Calcutta today experienced intermittent rainfall, with the sky remaining overcast through the day. More showers have been forecast over the next few days.

Weather officials said the amount of rainfall predicted could come down on Navami and Dashami (Monday and Tuesday) only if the cyclonic circulation did not make landfall and stayed put over the Bay of Bengal.

The Met department has predicted rainfall only during the day until Ashtami. On Navami and Dashami, it might rain in the evening and at night too.

This newspaper had reported yesterday that the cyclonic circulation was expected to reach the Odisha border today before taking a northwest trajectory and moving towards the Bengal coast by Sunday.

The circulation, however, gained more speed than anticipated and reached Odisha last night itself. By today, it had started moving towards the Bengal coast.

The initial forecast had been light rainfall on Sashthi, Saptami and Ashtami, which has now changed to light to moderate showers from tomorrow.

A rainfall of at least 34mm is described as moderate.

"There might be light to moderate rainfall on Saptami and Ashtami. But when the circulation makes landfall, the rain will increase. Some parts of Calcutta could receive heavy showers on Navami and Dashami," said G.K. Das, the director of the India Meteorological Department, Calcutta.

Sashthi was peppered with light intermittent rain through the day. Some areas like Dum Dum and Ajaynagar, off EM Bypass, experienced heavy rain.

"I was near Manoharpukur Road to see the pandal of Tridhara Akalbodhan in the afternoon when it began to rain heavily. My sister and I feared the rain would spoil our pandal-hopping but thankfully, it stopped after a while," said Indrani Mitra.

The rain could not dampen the spirits of Puja revellers as lakhs descended on the streets in the evening, umbrellas in hand.