Aug. 14: Independence Day could finally bring Calcutta freedom from wet weather with Met officials saying the trough of low-pressure that dumped rain for over a week has weakened.

The skies cleared partially today, bringing some relief. The city recorded over 350mm of rainfall between August 6 and August 13, almost 21mm more than the average for the full month, the officials said.

A dip in rainfall led to an improvement in the flood situation in south Bengal, irrigation minister Manas Bhuniya said. But north Bengal did not enjoy any relief with heavy rains continuing to batter the region.

Bhuniya today met chief secretary Samar Ghosh at Writers’ this afternoon to assess the flood situation across the state.

Since last night, 30,000 cusecs of water has been discharged from the Kangshabati barrage instead of the usual 40,000 cusecs and that it will be decreased to 20,000 cusecs gradually.