Multiple thunderstorms struck Calcutta and neighbouring areas on Thursday morning, afternoon and evening.
More such spells are likely across Bengal in the coming days. Rain is likely in Calcutta on all days till May 10. The intensity is likely to peak on Saturday, when Bengal’s first BJP chief minister is scheduled to be sworn in at the Brigade Parade Grounds.
Thursday’s rain was accompanied by strong gusts of wind that felled trees. Around 10 trees were damaged, and some were fully uprooted. The reports came from southern pockets like Mukundapur, Garia and Thakurpukur.
A branch of a tree crashed onto the elevated Metro tracks between Tollygunge and Kudghat stations, disrupting Metro services for over an hour.
Between 5.30pm on Wednesday and 5.30pm on Thursday, the Met office recorded around 31mm of rain in Alipore. It did not include the rain triggered by the thundershowers that began after 7pm and persisted for close to an hour.
pedestrians cross a road in the Esplanade area
Dum Dum recorded a peak wind speed of 55kmph a little before 8pm.
“The wind speed could have been higher in areas where the trees were damaged,” said a Met official.
“On Saturday, thunderstorms are not ruled out in the morning. But chances are more that they will strike in the late afternoon or evening,” said the Met official.
The swearing-in is slated for 10am.
Two systems are behind the current rainy spell, a Met bulletin said.
“The trough from central parts of south Madhya Pradesh to Jharkhand across Chhattisgarh at 0.9km above mean sea level persists. An upper-air cyclonic circulation over east Bihar persists.... In view of favourable wind patterns and strong moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal, thunderstorms and associated activities are very likely to continue over the districts of West Bengal,” the bulletin said.
In south Bengal, West Burdwan, Bankura, Purulia and East Burdwan are among the districts likely to bear the highest impact, said Met officials.
The overcast conditions dragged the temperature down. The maximum temperature on Thursday was 30.8 degrees Celsius, almost five notches below what is normal for the second week of May.