Chittaranjan Avenue flooded by the overnight rain on Sunday. Picture by Aranya Sen

An uninterrupted downpour for around 12 hours left several parts of the city flooded and flight and train services disrupted on Sunday. The ordeal may continue on Monday, as the Met office warned of heavy rain in Calcutta and the rest of south Bengal in the next 24 hours.

The city received 153.4 mm of rain in 24 hours till 8.30pm on Sunday. The rain was accompanied by gusty winds, blowing at times at a speed of 45 km per hour.

Civic officials pointed out that waterlogging could have been avoided, had there been even distribution of rainfall. “It rained 55 mm in just one hour, 6am to 7am on Sunday, while our drainage system can handle 16 mm of rainfall an hour,” said civic chief engineer (drainage & sewerage) Tushar Ghosh.

The CMC pressed into action 50 pumps to drain out the water, but the high tide in the Hooghly put paid to the effort. Water started receding fast with the onset of ebb tide at 1pm.

The waterlogged areas included Thanthania, MM Burman Street, BBD Bag, Chittaranjan Avenue, Paikpara, Ultadanga, Phoolbagan, Beleghata, Topsia, Tiljala, Tangra, Ballygunge Phari, Free School Street, Kasba, Harish Mukherjee Road, Picnic Garden Road, Golf Green, Behala, Dhakuria, Jadavpur, Jodhpur Park, Dum Dum Road and Belgachhia.

Around 40 trees were uprooted across the city. A child was injured when two trees fell on BK Pal Avenue. Several markets could not open.

An airport official said all flights ran late by 15 minutes on an average. The Calcutta (Chitpur) rail terminal could not function as the tracks were inundated. The Jammu-Tawi Express, Radhikapur Express and Mithilanchal Express were cancelled.

A Met official said the depression that formed on the Bay on Saturday entered Orissa on Sunday morning. “It can cause widespread rain in Calcutta and south Bengal districts on Monday. The weather is likely to improve from Tuesday,” said G.C. Debnath, of Regional Meteorological Centre, in Alipore.