Incessant rainfall throughout Thursday night left parts of Siliguri and its adjoining areas waterlogged, prompting residents to question the Trinamool-run Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) about their plans for the monsoon.

The residents have pointed out that a brief spell of heavy rain was enough to inundate multiple neighbourhoods across the city.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had forecast intense rainfall across Siliguri and the hill districts of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, as well as neighbouring Sikkim.

Continuous downpour was reported across Siliguri and its surrounding areas from Thursday evening to early Friday morning.

“The rainfall recorded in Siliguri over the past 24 hours was 82 mm, the highest so far this season. The sudden downpour was triggered by a cyclonic circulation over the region, combined with strong moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal. Rainfall is likely to intensify and continue till March 16,” said G. N. Raha, a meteorologist at the regional Met office in Gangtok.

Thursday’s heavy downpour led to waterlogging in key localities of Siliguri, including Hakimpara, Collegepara, Champasari, Pradhannagar, Purba Vivekanandapally, Haiderpara and Bidhan Market.

An underpass at Jabravita in the city also remained flooded until Friday.

Gautam Deb, the mayor, held a review meeting with the conservancy department and SMC officials. Deb said ongoing development projects, like the underground cables and pipes for house-to-house gas supply, may have caused temporary blockages in drainage systems.

“It was a pre-monsoon downpour that caused sudden waterlogging in several areas for a short period. Multiple development projects are underway across the city and construction materials stacked at different sites may have disrupted the normal flow of drains. I reviewed the situation with the conservancy department and civic officials, visited some of the affected areas, and instructed the concerned agencies to remove debris immediately to clear drains and streets,” Deb said after the meeting.

Amit Jain, a BJP councillor and leader of the opposition in the civic board, criticised the SMC authorities for failing to clean drains and remove silt from water bodies.

“People across Siliguri have suffered after yesterday’s (Thursday) rainfall. The civic body has miserably failed to maintain the sewage system here,” said Jain.

The weather office also issued an alert for Gangtok, Gyalshing, Namchi and Soreng in Sikkim, predicting light to moderate rainfall and snowfall in the high-altitude areas on Friday.

Heavy rainfall, ranging from 70 mm to 110 mm, is expected for the Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Kalimpong, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar distrits over the next 24 hours.