Incessant rainfall in Kolkata, international airport waterlogged

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Kolkata and its neighbouring districts experienced incessant rainfall on Saturday as a low-pressure area turned into a deep depression, an 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.

As a result of the rains, waterlogging was reported from several parts of Kolkata, including at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport. However, there are no reports of disruptions in flight movements so far.

Meanwhile, waterlogging was also reported from the neighbouring cities of Howrah, Salt Lake and Barrackpore. These cities are likely to continue getting heavy rainfall for the rest of the day, the weather office said.

According to the police, ankle-deep water was reported from parts of central and south Kolkata, but this did not disrupt the traffic movement in the city.

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, the official 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 while 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.

Meanwhile, one person died in Paschim Bardhaman district after his car was swept away by water while crossing a submerged bridge in Kalyanpur Housing area bridge in Asansol, officials said on Saturday. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) recovered the body on Saturday and sent it for post-mortem, they said. Locals said that the driver had been warned against crossing the bridge.

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.

(With PTI inputs)