ROADBLOCK: The AJC Bose Road flyover, clogged with traffic at the Park Circus end, after Wednesday’s rain. Picture by Amit Datta

Vehicles stood bumper to bumper on submerged roads on Wednesday morning, as police struggled, mostly in vain, to ensure smooth flow of traffic.

The worst-hit was the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass. Vehicles came to a halt on a large stretch of the artery, as the water level rose steadily on New Park Street.

The police blamed the situation on the clogged manholes near the Park Circus seven-point crossing.

By 9.30am, the situation was so bad that officers of the East Traffic Guard were forced to close Park Circus bridge No. 4. “At one point, sergeants of the East Traffic Guard found it impossible to step out of office. The bridge was cut off for almost an hour. During peak hours, it was a total mess,” said a senior traffic officer.

Even after the bridge was opened, the traffic was so chaotic that the police had to work out a diversion through Darga Road around 11.30am.

In north Calcutta, the underpass at Ultadanga went under water, forcing the police to restrict traffic on both ways to one of the flanks.

With the Hudco crossing waterlogged, vehicles had a tough time moving along Ultadanga Main Road.

Around 1.20pm, traffic officers struggled to ensure that Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, on way to the airport to catch a flight for Delhi, faced no problem on the Bypass.

“Things were no different for office-bound traffic on Bidhan Sarani, from the Shyambazar five-point crossing to Hatibagan. Water did not recede from the stretch and there was no way we could divert traffic to Chittaranjan Avenue which, too, was in a bad shape,” said a traffic inspector.