A resident manoeuvres a waterlogged road near Patna Junction roundabout on Friday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Friday was the wettest May day in a decade. The city had recorded 92.2mm rainfall till 8.30am.

Starting from 10pm on Thursday, it rained all night and through the day because of a cyclonic circulation originating in coastal Bay of Bengal. From the looks of it, it could rain for another 4-5 days, but the weatherman claimed it will rain till 11am on Saturday.

The endless rain has belied the civic authorities’ claim that Patna would not see waterlogged streets this monsoon. Residents woke up to water till their doorstep at Kadamkuan, Yarpur, Kankerbagh, Anandpuri and Bahadurpur, Jakkanpur, Patel Nagar and other low-lying areas. Even upscale Patliputra Cooperative Society was waterlogged.

The rain created a huge puddle on Patliputra-Kurji Road. Motorists had a harrowing time avoiding open drains south of Rajendra Nagar bridge. Many two-wheelers slipped on the muddy Ashiana-Digha Road due to ongoing works there. Residents were equally irked by a nauseating stench from garbage dumped on the roadside.

“It was almost impossible to breathe on Kurji Road from Ganga Apartment to Ashok Rajpath. It’s the same story every time it rains,” Kurji resident Medha Verma said.

District magistrate N. Saravana Kumar and senior Patna Municipal Corporation officers had met last week to look into residents’ rain woes. Kumar told The Telegraph: “I’ve asked PMC officials to take all steps to solve water-logging problems. They’ve been instructed to cover all manholes and complete monsoon preparedness work by June 15.”

But if Friday’s experience was anything to go by, then PMC is far from meeting the target. In fact, PMC records say just 60 per cent of pre-monsoon work has been completed at a cost of around Rs 2 crore.

The waterlogging apart, there was no power for 10-12 hours in almost the entire city. Power supply could be restored only in the afternoon, so much for Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (Pesu)’s tall claims.

“The rains led to a fault in several 33KV and 11KV feeders. Besides, there was a fault in the Fatuha-Mithapur 312KV transmission line since early morning. But we have started supply from alternate sources and normalised supply in almost all affected areas,” Pesu general manager-cum-chief engineer Vijay Kumar told The Telegraph.

Shashi Bhushan Prasad, a government employee residing in Kumhrar, told The Telegraph: “Power went away around 4am and could be restored only after 12noon. We had a tough time.”

The rain hit flights too. Air India’s flight 409 from Delhi, which arrives at 8.50am, was diverted to Ranchi airport. It finally arrived in Patna around 1.30pm. GoAir’s Delhi-Patna-Delhi-Mumbai flight G8 342, which arrives at 8.30am was diverted to Benaras and landed in Patna soon after the AI flight landed. Most flights were running late.

Encephalitis relief

On the flip side, the rain has actually brought down the number of acute encephalitis syndrome patients being admitted to Shri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH). Sources said no patients with acute encephalitis syndrome had been admitted in the past two days.

The health hub superintendent, Dr G.K. Thakur, said the mercury’s dip from 40°C to 30°C has helped stem the flow of patients.

“The number of patients with symptoms of acute encephalitis syndrome increased after the mercury touched 40 degrees Celsius,” he said. “The awareness drive in remote pockets of Minapur, Bochahan, Saraiya, Paroo, Kudhani, Mushahri and Gaighat blocks of the district has also helped tackle the disease,” said Thakur.