Just two days ago, Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim pointed to the “Didi difference” to distinguish the City of Joy from other cities, especially in the BJP-ruled states.
Hakim argued: “While other Double Engine Sarkars are turning cities into swimming pools every monsoon, our Kolkata is just doing what it does best- staying afloat.”
Hakim had pitted Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, Surat, Nagpur and Lucknow with Kolkata’s Thanthania, CR Avenue and Amherst Street, all in the north and central part of the cities.
The Telegraph Online found CR Avenue waterlogged around 12.30pm on Saturday.
A fierce burst of rain drenched Kolkata on Saturday (July 19) afternoon, catching many residents by surprise and leaving many parts of the city waterlogged within minutes. Beginning around 12.20pm, heavy rain, accompanied by gusty winds and intermittent lightning, swept across the city, turning busy intersections into puddled mazes and forcing pedestrians to scramble for cover.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had issued a yellow warning at 12.09pm, cautioning that light to moderate thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds reaching 30-40 kmph were very likely to affect Kolkata, Hooghly, and Nadia over the next two to three hours. True to prediction, the weather turned swiftly, with the IMD recording 32.6 mm of rainfall between 11.30am on July 18 and the same time on Saturday.
According to the IMD’s midday bulletin, the city is expected to witness generally cloudy skies with light to moderate rain or thundershowers over the next 24 hours. Temperatures are likely to hover around a maximum of 33°C and a minimum of 27°C, with relative humidity peaking at a muggy 100 per cent.
Looking ahead, the seven-day forecast issued by IMD suggests a persistent spell of light to moderate rain in the city, particularly intensifying from July 23 onward as a fresh low-pressure system is expected to form over the north Bay of Bengal. The bulletin warns of isolated heavy rainfall (7-11cm) in Kolkata and other districts of south Bengal later this week.