Durgapur, Aug. 22: At least 10,000 residents were marooned as swathes of low-lying areas of Durgapur and Asansol were submerged after heavy rain throughout last night.

An official at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Calcutta's Alipore said Bankura town recorded a rainfall of 172.6mm between 8.30am on Sunday and 8.30am on Monday. Panagarh in Burdwan that neighbours Durgapur recorded 197.2mm of rain in the same time and Asansol got 94.2mm.

A Met official said the low pressure formation had moved away from Bengal this afternoon to Jharkhand and adjoining southern Bihar. Tomorrow scattered rainfall is expected across Bengal.

In ward 13 in Durgapur town that was the worst affected, the Tamla canal overflowed because of the heavy rain and flooded the area prompting 1,300 residents to flee their homes. Most buildings near the canal, which is 25km long and flows through Durgapur town and into the Damodar, are under water.

Around 500 residents are in nine relief camps that have opened in primary schools.

Birendra Thakur, 55, a resident of Tamla, said: "We were sleeping when it was raining. We realised at night that water had entered the ground floor of my two-storey house. We sat on our beds till daybreak. We waded out of chest-deep water to higher ground. I have moved with my family to a relative's house."

In Asansol's Kalla in ward 30, a portion of land beside a road caved in following the rain.

In Raniganj a portion of land subsided last night triggering panic among residents.

Durgapur barrage has discharged 1,13,150 cusecs of water till this evening while the combined discharge of water from DVC's Panchet and Maithan reservoirs was 75,000 cusecs.