Downpour, high tide, waterlogging, vehicle breakdowns rain pain on city commuters

Kolkata: Large parts of the city went under water on Saturday afternoon following spells of heavy shower. Unlike Thursday, when the Kolkata Municipal Corporation drainage pumping stations had recorded a south-north divide in the rainfall pattern, the civic body on Saturday recorded uniform rain across the city.According to a KMC sewerage and drainage department rainfall data, among the northern parts of the city, areas like Dum Dum, Cossipore, Sinthi, Belgachhia, Maniktala, Beliaghata and Chittaranjan Avenue were the worst affected by the downpour. neighbourhoods known for waterlogging, like Thanthania, Muktarambabu Street, Amherst Street and Sukeas Street, quire predictably went under water. Camac Street, Jodhpur Park, Bhowanipore, Syed Amir Ali Avenue, Gurusaday Dutt Road, Ballygunge Circular Road, Sarat Bose Road, Kalighat, Ballygunge, Dhakuria and Golf Green in the south faced the brunt as heavy showers lashed pounded the area for about an hour.According to a KMC drainage department official, heavy-duty pumps had to be operated at Ballygunge drainage pumping station to flush out storm water from large areas of south Kolkata. “Several south Kolkata neighbourhoods received over 40mm of rainfall in an hour. Such was the intensity that storm water refused to drain out from roads for a long time. It was compounded by a second spell of showers,” said a KMC drainage department official.High tide in the Hooghly at around the same time had forced the KMC drainage department to shut the lockgates along the river. As a result, it made it challenging for the civic team to flush out the accumulated water. “The tide water flooded several neighbourhoods located along Tolly’s Nullah,” said a civic official. Taking a lesson from Thursday, when certain areas of south and central Kolkata remained gridlocked due to waterlogging, city traffic guard cops took action without delay. They identified the waterlogging spots and deployed extra personnel to divert traffic. But even then, rain, waterlogging and breakdowns made the vehicles crawl in some parts. Among the worst-affected areas was M G Road, where traffic on both flanks towards Sealdah and Howrah crawled. “Due to waterlogging on MG Road near Syed Sally Lane, traffic is moving slowly on the same,” police posted on FB.Ankle-deep water on Asutosh Mukherjee Road impeded traffic on the left flank of the road. Waterlogging was also reported on Theatre Road, between Pretoria Street and Lord Sinha Road, and Free School Street. Combined teams of KMC and police were deployed to man the Free School Street-Park Street crossing, AJC Bose Road-Camac Street crossing and the Park Circus Seven-Point crossing.“Police have to update the traffic control room about their decisions in real time and coordinate among themselves if they wish to ply on manual signal instead of automatic,” said a cop. Breakdowns on Maa flyover near Kohinoor Market added to congestions.