Heavy rain inundates Kolkata

Kolkata, July 15: Incessant rainfall inundated several areas of the eastern metropolis on Friday, triggering traffic snarls in arterial roads and crippling normal life.

The Met Office on Friday forecast "very heavy rainfall" in north Bengal and heavy rain in several districts in the southern part of the state over the next 24-48 hours.

The Kolkata Traffic Police informed people of "heavy traffic due to water logging" at the Park Circus Connector, one of the busiest thoroughfares in the city (in central-east Kolkata) that links rest of Kolkata to the suburbs via the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass.

"Overnight showers have led to waterlogging in several places in the city. The sky is expected to remain cloudy for the next few days. Gangetic Bengal and the sub-Himalayan areas will receive heavy rainfall in the next few days," the regional Met office here said.

Besides Park Circus Connector, the Central Avenue, the Thanthania Kalibari area and other stretches in north of the city witnessed waterlogging.

People had to wade through knee-deep water in several pockets in south Kolkata while small vehicles like auto-rickshaws could not ply.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation pressed water pumps into service to drain out water.

IANS