Incessant rain lashes Kolkata, neighbouring districts as low-pressure area turns into deep depression

PTI, Kolkata, Aug 03 2024  : Incessant rain lashed Kolkata and its neighbouring districts on Saturday as a low-pressure area turned into a deep depression, an official said.

As a result of the rains, waterlogging was reported from several parts of Kolkata. Similar was the scene in the neighbouring cities of Howrah, Salt Lake and Barrackpore.

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The situation would remain the same throughout the day, the weather office said.

According to the police, ankle-deep water was reported from parts of central and south Kolkata, but traffic movement was not disrupted.

Parts of the city experienced up to 7 cm rainfall since Friday afternoon, a weather official said.

"The low pressure over Jharkhand and Gangetic West Bengal turned into a deep depression. It is gradually shifting towards Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. This, accompanied by an active monsoon trough over the southern districts of West Bengal, resulted in the rains," he said.

The southern districts of Howrah, Paschim Bardhaman, Birbhum, Purba Bardhaman, Hooghly, Nadia, and North and South 24 Parganas districts will continue to experience showers over the next 12 hours, he said.

The Met Department also warned of thunderstorms, accompanied by lightning.

A 'yellow' alert for heavy rain of up to 11 cm for the Gangetic West Bengal districts, including Kolkata, was issued.

An 'orange' alert for heavy to very heavy rains was issued for Purulia, Murshidabad, Malda, Coochbehar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts.

A 'red' alert was issued for the Alipurduar district, where rainfall of up to 20 cm was likely.

On Friday, Kolkata recorded a maximum temperature of 30.1 degrees Celsius, which was 2.4 notches less than normal. The lowest temperature was 26 degrees, which was 0.6 notches below normal.

The lowest temperature was 26 degrees, which was 0.6 notches below normal. Accusing the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) of discharging water to engineer a 'man-made flood', state's ruling TMC leader Kunal Ghosh posted on X handle in Bengali: "When water level rises in Jharkhand, DVC aggravates the situation in Bengal by releasing water. But never releases water in summer when the state needs the most for irrigation and farming activities." 

Voicing apprehension that water level might rise during high tides on next Monday, Ghosh said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is keeping a close tab on the situation. An irrigation department official said 36,000 cusec water was discharged from Panchet dam, 70,000 cusec from Durgapur barrage, 12,000 cusec from Durgapur barrage. DVC sources said after heavy rains, stored water has to be discharged from barrages to prevent water bursting the walls.

Meanwhile, flight operations to and from the Kazi Nazrul Islam (KNI) airport at Andal in Paschim Bardhaman district continued to be suspended for the second consecutive day on Saturday as the airport is yet to be ready for operations. 

The operations at the airport were shut down on Friday due to waterlogging in and around its premises. “Due to continuous heavy rains in Durgapur, we've had to cancel all flights scheduled for today. The prevailing rain has caused some operational challenges and waterlogging in various parts of the city,” IndiGo airlines, which is the only company to operate in and out of the airport, tweeted on X on Saturday. 

All scheduled flights to and from the airport have been cancelled today, a spokesperson of Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL), said. BAPL is the developer of the airport. The water has receded from the airport premises and the cleaning process is on. We will be able to resume flight operations from Sunday, the spokesperson said. 

Flight operations to and from the Kazi Nazrul Islam (KNI) airport at Andal in West Bengal’s Paschim Bardhaman district were temporarily suspended on Friday due to waterlogging in and around its premises, officials said. Water had gushed into the airport premises and caused waterlogging in the operational area, an official said. 

Several places at the approach road to the airport from the highway were also inundated, he said. Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL), the developer of the airport, had said due to unprecedented rainfall recorded in and around the Durgapur-Asansol area since Thursday, both KNI airport and the surrounding areas have experienced significant waterlogging.