At 8.25pm, the maximum speed of the gusty wind reached 50km/hour at the Alipore Met office. The system was predicted to hit between midnight and early Wednesday morning, leading to widespread showers across south Bengal districts, including Kolkata. The city could receive at least one consistent, heavy spell, said weathermen.
The system, which had been a cyclonic circulation till Monday night, intensified into a well-marked low pressure area on Tuesday.
“It should strike Kolkata by Wednesday morning. The system has been moving slowly but as the wind pattern changes at night, it could gain speed late on Tuesday or early on Wednesday and move faster into Gangetic Bengal. We expect a heavy downpour in Kolkata and consistent rain across Howrah, Hoogly, south and north 24 Parganas, east and west Midnapore and Burdwan,” said Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) director G K Das.
KMC geared up with a series of measures to counter the impact of a possible deluge. It has kept portable pumps ready to drain out water from low-lying areas off EM Bypass, Behala (parts), Joka, Garden Reach and parts of the Tollygunge-Jadavpur belt.
These areas don’t have adequate drainage infrastructure. A building demolition team has been kept ready at the civic headquarters to attend to emergencies while an electrical department team in each borough will swing into action to prevent electrocution in flooded streets.
A joint team of civic personnel and Kolkata police has been prepared to evacuate people from submerged areas that might be flooded after the rain.
New Town Development Authority (NKDA) and the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation have opened control rooms to help residents, apprehending a deluge. Sandbags have been placed along Bagjola and its peripheral canals to check overflow of water.
Drainage lines have been cleaned, gully pits checked and pumps have been kept ready to drain out water. While 120 pumps are ready to function in Salt Lake, New Town will have 100.
Kolkata could be hit by squally wind reaching 30-40 km/hr, gusting to 60 km/hr once the system strikes. The wind could prevail across all south Bengal districts, said the RMC.
While Kolkata, Howrah, Hoogly, North 24 Parganas and Jhargram could receive heavy rain (70mm-110mm) on Wednesday, one or two places in east and west Midnapore and South 24 Parganas could receive very heavy showers (70mm-200 mm). “Once the low-pressure reaches Gangetic Bengal, the rain could intensify,” added Das.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/civic-bodies-prepare-to-pre-empt-last-weeks-em-bypass-new-town-salt-lake-repeat/articleshow/86591219.cms