Two persons were killed when a house collapsed following heavy overnight rainfall which disrupted life, submerging large parts of the city and the neighbouring districts and affecting train and other transport services.
A portion of a four-storeyed building located in Cotton Street in the city’s northern parts collapsed in the early hours of the morning, killing a father-son duo. While the 22-year-old man died on the spot, his 55-year-old father succumbed to his injures later in the day at a city hospital.
According to the city police, more than 100 roads and lanes of the city were submerged by ankle-deep to knee-deep water. The roads leading to the new Secretariat building Nabanna at Howrah was inundated too.
Speedboats by the civil defence were deployed in certain low-lying areas of the city. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation opened a control room and cancelled leave of its officers.
Officials of the Regional Meteorological Centre, Alipore said the city received about 105 mm rainfall between Friday night and Saturday morning. There was heavy rainfall in the adjoining South 24 Parganas district, Howrah, Purba Midnapore districts and the lower parts of the Damodar Valley, particularly in Bardhaman district.
The met office, however, said the depression would remain active for the next 24 hours after which the situation would improve both in the city and other districts of south Bengal. The officials have predicted heavy rainfall in the city and other districts of south Bengal for the next 24 hours.
The release of about 34,000 cusecs from the reservoirs of the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has triggered fresh fears about floods in certain districts. The State’s lower parts received a battering last week from surging waters from the DVC dams and barrages of Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is visiting north Bengal, called up Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim and asked him to take necessary measures.
Addressing a public gathering at Matigara in Darjeeling district, Ms. Banerjee expressed concern that a large part of the city was submerged. “The city has not received such rainfall in the past 25 years,” Ms. Banerjee observed.
Local train services in both the South Eastern and Eastern Railways was affected as railway tracks were under water. The South Eastern Railway cancelled six trains starting from Howrah and Santragachi stations to different destinations in the southern parts of the country.
