The widespread rainfall across the state has brought down the monsoon shower deficit figures but exposed the lack of preparedness of the civic authorities for the season of downpour.

Waterlogged potholes, slush-filled streets and traffic snarls spoilt the flavour of rains in the city though the active monsoon in the eastern part of India brought down the state’s rainfall deficiency to 0.05 per cent from 32 per cent in the past three days. Bihar is one of the six states in the country experiencing normal rainfall at present.

Several pockets of the city, despite experiencing 16 per cent deficiency in rainfall till date, were partially waterlogged on Friday. Proving repeated claims from authorities regarding dry streets in monsoon hollow, waterlogged potholes were common on Ashiana-Digha Road and Lohanipur Road. Streets were slush-filled at Gardanibagh and Kankerbagh areas.

Commuters and pedestrians had a tough time in wading through wet and scattered garbage along Kurji-Digha Road and at Anandpuri among other places. “Garbage can be seen spilled onto Kurji-Digha road round the year. The situation worsens in monsoon. Litter keeps spilling over from the garbage piles, prompting a slippery layer of mud on the road. People frequently slip over it,” said Rahul Raj, a resident of Kurji. Rains virtually slammed brakes on vehicular movement on many busy streets, including Boring Road, Ashok Rajpath and Nala Road. Traffic moved at snail’s pace almost throughout Friday.

“Traffic snarls have become a perennial problem in the city and it worsens during the monsoon. It normally takes me around 30 minutes to reach my office on Exhibition Road from my home at Raja Bazaar. But today (Friday) it took me around an hour to cover the distance of around 10km because most motorists tend to move slowly while negotiating waterlogged potholes on the roads,” said Punit Kumar, an employee of a private firm.

Some low-lying areas, including Jakkanpur and Pataliputra, have started witnessing flooding of streets. The waterlogging issue might intensify as the weathermen claimed that the rainfall was expected to continue at least till next Wednesday. “Entire Bihar is receiving widespread rainfall because of a cyclonic circulation that developed over the Bay of Bengal last week. It has now become a low-pressure area and lying over Bangladesh and Gangetic Bengal. As the monsoon trough line is also at a favourable position at present, the rainfall is expected to continue at least till July 9,” said Ashish Sen, director, Patna Meteorological Centre.