Cuttack, July 28: Incessant rain triggered by a depression over the Bay of Bengal left several localities waterlogged here today and exposed the municipal corporation's lack of monsoon preparedness.

Residents, especially those staying in the low-lying areas, were adversely hit following the overnight rain that continued to lash till late in the afternoon. Areas such as Balu Bazar, Kazi Bazar, Kali Gali, Pithapur, Kanika Chhak, Badambadi, Mahanadi Vihar and Chauliaganj went under water following the shower.

The main storm water channel No. 1 overflowed at several pockets, including the area near Pravat Cinema, Meria Bazar and Kesharpur. Many localities near the channel such as Professorpara, Friends Colony and Gahmandi remained waterlogged till 3pm.

"The retaining wall of the main storm water drain has been damaged at several places, resulting in excess rain and drain water spilling on to the streets, causing inconvenience to the people," said Sanjay Pradhan, a commuter.

The residents blamed lack of measures on part of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation to clear the blockages in the drainage channels for the waterlogging. "It is for the second time in the past two months that the people in the city had to face waterlogging," said Kanika Chhak resident Siddharth Das.

Das said the civic body had miserably failed to ensure free flow of excess rainwater due to lack of measures to upgrade the surface drainage channels.

Earlier, the civic body's poor preparedness was exposed after several localities had been waterlogged following first spell of the heavy rain that lashed the city on June 15 and 16. Though the corporation had announced to make adequate space in the main storm water channel to carry excess rainwater with the help of motor pumps, it failed to put a check on waterlogging.

"The motor pumps were pressed into service around 9am today. Had those been deployed a few hours ago, the waterlogging could have been avoided," said Chauliaganj resident Umesh Swain.

Corporation officials, on the other hand, claimed that due to timely measures there was fast clearance of the rainwater from the city.

"We had deployed over 145 motor pumps in several localities, while around eight high-power pumps were installed at Matrubhavan and Khannagar sluice gates," said mayor Anita Behera.

Behera said the overall situation improved by 2pm as the quantum of rainfall had decreased in the second half of the day.

All corporation officials have been asked to remain on alert as heavy rain is expected in the next 24 hours, Behera said. Sources said bulk of the rainwater was now being released with the help of motor pumps through the Taladanda canal near Matrubhavan.