City pockets waterlogged, 1 hurt in balcony collapse – Times of India

Kolkata: Large parts of the city went under water on Thursday morning following incessant rain since Wednesday night. The waterlogging worsened due to the presence of a high tide in the Hooghly — first at noon and again in the afternoon. On Kailash Kabiraj Lane near Girish Park Metro station, the rain led to the collapse of the second-floor balcony of a century-old three-storey building, which had been deemed ‘dangerous’. A pedestrian was seriously injured in the incident.
The height of the tide in the afternoon was 17.3ft and all lock gates along the Hooghly remained shut from 2.15pm to 6.15pm, till the effects of the tide receded.
The closed lock gates, coupled with few spells of heavy rain in the afternoon, led to inundation of several pockets in north and central Kolkata, including Kumartuli, BK Pal Avenue, Chitpore, Strand Road, BBD Bag and more. This apart, residents had to wade through knee-deep water in several parts of Chittaranjan Avenue, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Muktarambabu Street, Bidhan Sarani and Beadon Street. Thoroughfares in major central and south Kolkata areas, such as Park Street, Camac Street, Theatre Road, Elgin Road, Asutosh Mukherjee Road, Rashbehari Avenue, Gariahat Road and Golf Green, also faced severe waterlogging. Traffic was disrupted in a mojor way. On Park Street, a full-grown tree was uprooted in the rain, further blocking the road.
People living along Tolly’s Nullah, particularly Kalighat, Chetla and Tollygunge areas, had to move out of their houses and makeshift huts as tidal water entered their homes. Residents of large parts of Behala and Kidderpore, once again, suffered due to inundation of their neighbourhoods. The condition of some low-lying areas located off EM Bypass was equally bad. Large stretches of Mukundapur, Madurdaha, Patuli and Kalikapur went under knee-deep water.
According to a KMC sewerage and drainage department official, considering the continuous rainfall for most of Thursday, a majority of the heavy-duty pumps at the city’s major drainage pumping stations were made operational. In addition, the KMC will need to press into service portable pumps to flush out storm water from low-lying areas, like Behala, Kidderpore, Garden Reach, Tollygunge, Jadavpur and EM Bypass.