 |
| A car wades through a waterlogged street near Patna Junction on Sunday afternoon. Picture by Jai Prakash |
Wet weekend over, brace for a damp Monday. Incessant rain will continue in the city and other parts of the state for the next 48 hours.
The incessant rain from Friday night flooded several streets in the city, confining people to home on Saturday and Sunday. Citizens did not complain much since most offices and schools were closed in the weekend. But professionals might have to wade through waterlogged streets to workstations on Monday because weathermen predicted the downpour would continue till Tuesday.
The Met department attributed the rainfall to the normal position of the monsoon trough line complemented with a cyclonic circulation prevailing over Bihar and Jharkhand.
“The trough line is passing through Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal and east central Bay of Bengal. But the major contributor to the ongoing spell of rain is an unusual cyclonic circulation prevailing over Bihar and Jharkhand. Usually, the cyclonic circulations shift in the north-west direction rapidly in September. But this one is almost static since Friday night, causing good rainfall in Bihar and Jharkhand. This cyclonic circulation is unlikely to shift from its present position before Monday afternoon,” said Ashish Sen, the director (radar) of the Met department, Patna.
The evening bulletin of the weather department said the cyclonic circulation persisted over Jharkhand and its neighbouring areas, extending up to 3.1km above the mean sea-level. The axis of the monsoon trough was passing through Ferozepur in Punjab, Meerut and Fursatganj in UP, Gaya in Bihar, Bankura and Diamond Harbour in Bengal, and further to east-central Bay of Bengal.
The IMD bulletin has forecast rain and thundershowers at most places in the state till Wednesday. A warning has been issued for heavy to very heavy rainfall at few places during the next 48 hours.
The city skies would be mostly covered with dense clouds on Monday as it had been since Friday evening. The rain started in the city on Friday night around 9.30. Intermittent rain continued till the next morning. Incessant shower continued throughout Saturday and Sunday morning, flooding streets at Kadamkuan, Yarpur, Kankerbagh, Anandpuri, Bahadurpur, Yarpur, Patel Nagar and some other localities.
The rain stopped for around two hours before the noon. But it started drizzling in the second-half of the day, compelling residents to cancel their weekend outing plans.
Akhilesh Kumar, a resident of Khajpura, said: “It has been over two years that my kids went to Patna zoo. I had planned to take them there this Sunday. But my plan got washed away by the rain. We had to spend the entire day at home.”
Waterlogged streets prevented several citizens from venturing out. “We could walk on the streets on Saturday evening. But the situation changed drastically overnight. There was knee-deep water on several streets on Sunday morning,” said Swati Srivastava, a resident of Kadamkuan.
This weekend, the footfall at restaurants was significantly low because of showers. “The business was almost 50 per cent less this weekend,” said Ajit Kumar, the manager of Moti Mahal Deluxe at Patliputra.
| HERE TO STAY |
 |
| Residents have a harrowing time at Sultanganj in Patna City on Sunday. Picture by Sachin |
|
Rainfall(in mm) Twin causes Forecast |
