They woke up after a night of heavy downpour fearing the worst. But a pleasant surprise awaited them as the water level started receding faster than they had ever seen it do. Huge parts of Calcutta — known for their annual inundation — were spared the agony of flooding on Tuesday after the season’s first heavy rain. The Met department at Alipore measured the rainfall for 12 hours till Tuesday 8.30am at 114 mm. Metro lists the reasons for improvement and cites the relief among the people.

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Golf Green

Reason: The box drain running under Netaji Subhas Road has been cleaned and portable pumps have been installed in the low-lying pockets to siphon out the accumulated water and pour them into the box drain. The pumps had to be drafted in as work on augmenting the capacity of the drainage pipe cannot be taken up before next year.

Relief: “For the first time in our 12 years’ stay in Haripada Datta Lane, I could go out of my house after a night of heavy shower,” said Bulan Lahiri. “Over the past several years, flooding has damaged our furniture, car and books. We experienced the worst inundation last year when it took two days for the water on the ground floor of our building to recede. I had met the chief engineer concerned at the CMC with a prayer to do something.”

Gurusaday Road

Reason: The diameter of the sewer line under Gurusaday Road was narrow at 15 inches and could not cope with the load of accumulated runoff entering the road, flowing down from AJC Bose Road and Ballygunge Circular Road. A new pipeline of 36-inch diameter was laid at a cost of Rs 70 lakh.

Relief: Heavy rain used to mean knee-deep water on Gurusaday Road for at least three hours. “A cloudburst on a weekday was always a nightmare for us working in the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum. Today (Tuesday) I could reach my office without soiling my sari in filthy water,” said an employee of the museum who did not wish to be named.

Ultadanga

Reason: The silt in the sewer lines was scooped out and a 2.5-km-long, three-foot diameter new drainage pipeline from the ESI Hospital to the Bypass laid. Ultadanga benefited from these two steps even before the Rs 4-crore drainage pumping station is commissioned later this month.

Relief: “At 8am when I woke up my heart sank,” said Anil Kar. “I thought I would have to take casual leave today. But by 10, the water had cleared.”

Amherst Street

Reason: The Hrishikesh Park pumping station worked at full capacity to pump water into the brick sewer of APC Road. Since silt in the sewer was cleared in the past six months, there was no back-flow.

Relief No boats in Amherst Street, which had only ankle-deep water. Shiba Prasad Datta acknowledged the work done over the past several months: “It was the first time we saw civic people clearing the deposited trash from the sewer line.”