Downpours, water-logging leave Kolkata sinking

Kolkata, Jul 14: As monsoon continue to lash Kolkata and its suburbs, waterlogged streets and traffic snarls have left the commuters struggling to reach their destinations.

Met office sources said the city and suburbs experienced 88.9 mm of rainfall since last evening, that left several of the arterial roads choked. Some parts of the city recorded upto 112 mm of rainfall in an hour last evening.

The roads worst hit were Central Avenue, Amherst Street, College Street and MG Road in North Kolkata, Camac Street, AJC Bose Road, APC Road, Gariahat Road and Mominpore road in South Kolkata and Dalhousie Square in the heart of the city.

The official sources predicted more rainfall throughout the day, with a generally overcast condition and high humidity per cent.

The maximum temperature in the morning was 31.3 degree celcius and minimum around 27.5 degree celcius, with a relative humidity above 80 per cent.

However, the biggest headache for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation was to keep the streets free from waterlogging. Even with the pumps working overtime they have failed to prevent flooding of the streets.

MMiC (Drainage and Sewerage) Farzana Chowdhury said 91 available pumps are being used and an additional 40 portable pumps have also been deployed.

Meanwhile, the people trying to meet the office deadline had a harrowing time with traffic snarls and slow movement of vehicles making life miserable.

The police also found it difficult to control the flow of traffic with the rush hours demanding swift flow of vehicles which was only thawrted by the inundated roads.

UNI