Watch: Planes grounded as rainwater enters Kolkata airport runway

KOLKATA: Kolkata and its surrounding areas experienced heavy rainfall on Saturday due to a low-pressure area that intensified into a deep depression. The downpour caused waterlogging in various parts of Kolkata, including the airport, as well as in nearby cities such as Howrah, Salt Lake, and Barrackpore. The weather office predicted that the situation would persist throughout the day.

Waterlogging was also reported inside Kolkata airport. However, flight services were not impacted.

"Both runway and all taxiways are fully operational. However, a few parking stands are affected by waterlogging for which additional pumps have been deployed to drain the water from the operational area," an official said.

Police reported ankle-deep water in some areas of central and south Kolkata, but traffic remained unaffected.

Parts of the city experienced up to 7 cm of rainfall since Friday afternoon, according to a weather official.

"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.

The southern districts of Howrah, Paschim Bardhaman, Birbhum, Purba Bardhaman, Hooghly, Nadia, and North and South 24 Parganas will continue to experience showers over the next 12 hours, he added.

The Met Department also issued a warning for thunderstorms, accompanied by lightning. A 'yellow' alert was announced for heavy rain of up to 11 cm for the Gangetic West Bengal districts, including Kolkata.

An 'orange' alert was given for heavy to very heavy rains in the districts of Purulia, Murshidabad, Malda, Coochbehar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, and Kalimpong.

A 'red' alert was issued for the Alipurduar district, where rainfall of up to 20 cm was likely.

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.