Calcutta's drainage network came up short again as a sunny Sunday morning gave way to a downpour that the weather office says has set the tone for a rainy Independence Day.
The trigger for the rain after a period of swelter was a cyclonic circulation that had been building up over the Bay of Bengal.
The shower and a delay in operating the municipal pumping stations that drain rainwater into the canals led to waterlogging in several pockets.
There could be more of the same on Monday since the cyclonic circulation is tipped to intensify into a low-pressure area, causing heavy rain in Calcutta and elsewhere in south Bengal, said G.C. Debnath, deputy director-general of the India Meteorological Department, Calcutta.
In 24 hours till 8.30pm on Sunday, the Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore had recorded 36.4mm of rain.
The Calcutta Municipal Corporation, which uses data provided by its pumping stations to calculate the amount of rain in a particular area, Behala received 6mm, Thanthania 24mm, Ballygunge 20mm, Chetla 19mm, Jodhpur Park 18mm and Palmer Bazaar 17mm between 4pm and 5pm.
Rainfall was heavier around the airport, leaving parts of the northern fringes in knee-deep water.
Some pockets of central Calcutta, including CR Avenue, parts of Chandni Chowk and a few stretches of Park Street and Theatre Road were also waterlogged in quick time.
Sources in the CMC attributed the waterlogging in central Calcutta to a two-hour delay in starting two pumps at the Palmer Bazar pumping station.
During dry periods, three pumps are operational at the CMC stations. Sunday morning was no different.
But even after heavy rain started in the afternoon, officials at the Palmer Bazar station did not switch on the two pumps kept on standby to drain out excess rainwater, a source in the civic body said.
The extra pumps were put to use only after a prod from a senior official, the source added.
Some of the rainwater receded after the lockgates on the banks of the Hooghly were opened following low tide. "Otherwise, the situation could have been worse," a civic official said.
Shilpi Jain, 39, stepped out of Chandni Chowk Metro station in the evening and was surprised to see the road waterlogged. "I took the train from Kalighat. It was raining then but I did not expect a waterlogged road in such a short time," the homemaker said.
But Sunday being a holiday, there were fewer cars, buses and pedestrians on the roads and that meant less traffic torment because of waterlogging.
The only consolation was the drop in temperature and relief from the sweltering conditions since Saturday. At 11.30am, the temperature had been 34.4 degrees Celsius, 2.4 notches above normal.
