Moderate to heavy rainfall lashed several parts of the state’s three coastal districts and parts of south Bengal starting Sunday morning, with remnants of the weakened Cyclone Jawad visible across parts of the state.

The weather office has stated that rainfall will continue on Monday too. The cyclonic storm is slated to reach the Bengal coastal region early on Monday in the form of a “well-marked low pressure”.

The Alipore weather office has since indicated that moderate to heavy rainfall was likely to continue across the districts of North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, East Midnapore, West Midnapore, Jhargram as well as in Calcutta, Howrah, Hooghly, Birbhum, Nadia, Bankura, Murshidabad, East Burdwan and West Burdwan.
The early impact of the depression, incessant rain, became visible from Saturday afternoon and continued throughout Sunday in the coastal areas and Gangetic regions but with no major damage to life or property.

South 24-Parganas, however, witnessed a breaches to earthen dams in at least three places including Mousuni Island. A vessel also capsized on Muriganga river near Sagar Island in the district.

The district also reported several cases of inundation.
Baliara village in Mousuni became flooded on Sunday after water infiltrated a 100-metre stretch of an earthen dyke along the Chinai river owing to morning high tide. Local residents claimed the dyke had been damaged last month, but no repair work had been taken up. As a result, large areas comprising agricultural fields, fishing bheris and homes were inundated. Many people were left homeless.

Asked, Namkhana BDO Santanu Sinha Thakur, who is in charge of the area, said: “Irrigation department authorities have been informed about the breach and have begun necessary repair work immediately so as to avoid any further damage.”

Sources said several other low-lying areas such as Poilagheri in Mousuni, Nadabhanga in Namkhana, and Dwarikanagar were inundated by the high tides.
South 24-Parganas district administration sources stated on Sunday that earthen embankments had been breached in Namkhana and Kumirmari in Gosaba, where immediate repairs were being done by the irrigation department.

On Saturday morning, a vessel pulling a barge laden with concrete posts capsized near Kachuberia ghat on Muriganga river after the boatmen failed to control the vessel during high tide and rammed into a jetty. Four persons were rescued by police.

South 24-Parganas district magistrate P. Ulaganathan said: “The situation is under control across the district. So far we have opened 82 relief camps, 115 multipurpose community centres and 20 relief shelters. Apart from this, 225 additional relief shelters have also been kept prepared for emergency evacuations if needed”.
Amid incessant rains, irrigation officials on Sunday were repairing a major earthen dam along the Dasha river in Sandeshkhali of North 24-Parganas.

Asked about this initiative amid this inclement weather, an official said: “We have continued to carry out the repairs since the area stands to be more vulnerable during high tides and heavy rains.”

Tourist curbs
In Bakkhali and Fraserganj of South 24-Parganas, tourists were prohibited from accessing the sea beaches, where officials of civil defence and general administration continued surveillance throughout the day using public address systems.

Similar scenes were noticed in Digha, Shankarpur, Tajpur and other tourist attractions close to the coastal zone in East Midnapore.
In Digha, East Midnapore district magistrate Purnendu Majhi visited the beaches to ensure people did not venture there.

In all the three major tourist spots of the district, the roads leading up to beaches were cordoned off and officials of the civil defence continued surveillance efforts since the sea had become turbulent and water levels had risen to dangerous levels.

“We are indeed thankful to the tourists since they cooperated with the administration,” DM Majhi said. A handful of low-lying areas in East Midnapore district were badly inundated on Sunday, damaging crops.

“We have begun an assessment of the losses so that due compensation may be paid,” the DM added.

Fishermen
Officials of the fisheries department in Calcutta said that all the fishermen who had ventured out for deep-marine fishing from harbours across South 24-Parganas and East Midnapore had returned.
However, some small boats were seen on the sea near Digha on Sunday. These were alerted by the Indian Coast Guards to be brought back to the shore.