The sinking feeling was back in major parts of Calcutta after the season’s first overnight shower as the Alipore Met office recorded 114 mm of rains between 8.30pm on Monday night and 8.30am on Tuesday morning. Metro visited several inundated parts of the city:

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CR Avenue

Scene: The vital link between north Calcutta and the city centre was under knee-deep water before the morning traffic hit the road. The water level kept rising and office-goers had a harrowing time reaching Ganesh Chandra Avenue from Ram Mandir. Water seeped through the shutters of shops near Ram Mandir. Connected roads like Bow Street, Robert Street and Tarachand Dutta Street were flooded till night.

Sufferings: Old timers said the waterlogging situation has worsened. “There used to be waterlogging between Tarachand Dutt Street and MG Road. Today, Ganesh Chandra Avenue to Girish Park was under water,” said Ajay Bakshi, whose car broke down on the stretch.

Bidhan Sarani, Marcus Square

Scene: Thanthania Kalibari was flooded yet another time. The rest of Bidhan Sarani did not fare any better. Material dumped on the road for reconstruction of College Street Market made the carriageway narrow and caused snarls.

Sufferings: Amina Khatoon was bailing water from her ground-floor flat at 32A/E Marcus Street. Water seeped into shops and damaged goods. “Whenever it rains, we have to shut down our establishments. The water does not recede before 10 hours,” said Ashish Banerjee of Maa Tara Medical Stores.

Park Street-Loudon Street belt

Scene: Traffic on Russell Street, Little Russell Street, Loudon Street and Camac Street moved at snail’s pace because of waterlogging. School students waded through knee-deep water.

Sufferings: Office-goers waited outside Metro stations, looking for taxis to get to their workplace. “A cabbie wanted Rs 200 to take me to Khanna crossing,” said Debasis Chatterjee at the Loudon Street-Shakespeare Sarani crossing.

Taratala Road, New Alipore

Scene: An S31 bus and a Tata Indica got stuck in a pit, dug up by the civic body near the Taratala-DH Road crossing to lay pipes. Pedestrians wading through waist-high water slipped and sustained injuries.

Sufferings: Waterlogging is an annual phenomenon here. Ditches dug by the civic body only compounded the problem, said Sourin Saha, who fell in a pit. “How can I remember which part of the stretch is dug?”

Bodyguard Lines

Scene: The residential compound was flooded. Four pumps were used to drain out water and the disaster management group arrived with boats.

Sufferings: “The water would take at least two days to recede. The situation has not improved in seven years,” said resident Mohua Banerjee.