Patna, June 19: The monsoon this year has come with a poser for you and I. The incessant downpour has proved the lack of preparedness of the city authorities.

As a result of being caught on the wrong foot, most low-lying areas of the city remained waterlogged. They remained flooded for over 24 hours. The flooding started three hours after the rain began yesterday at 4.10pm.

While plans of weekend outings were thrown off track for most, the situation was worse for others. In many localities of the city, water had entered the ground floor of the houses.

The civic authorities claimed that it should take no more than five to six hours to drain out standing water. However, in most areas of the city, water has been standing for more than 12 hours.

Kankerbagh, one such low-lying area, has a history of waterlogging.

“This is our first tryst with monsoon this year, and everyone can see the real conditions. The roads are filed by water. Silt and garbage are overflowing from drains. There is a Kankerbagh drainage project, which is expected to solve the waterlogging problem of this area. But nothing has happened till now. While stagnant water is an open invitation to various deadly diseases, the open manholes and catchpits on the other hand, also pose a serious threat,” Ambar Sinha, a resident of Kankerbagh, said.

Mayor Afzal Imam said around 1,000 manholes and catchpits have been left open.

“It is mainly because of non-receipt of sufficient funds from the state urban development department that we have not been able to buy sufficient number of covers. Thus, around a thousand manholes and catchpits are lying open. All our pumps and motors in every circle are running non-stop to pump out the water. We have the capacity to pump out water within five to seven hours from an area. However, the continuous rains have made the job a little difficult for us. By the time we clear some water, the more showers are worsening the situation,” said the mayor.