Parts of central Calcutta were waterlogged on Monday following overnight rain and another sharp spell in the morning.

A senior official of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation blamed the waterlogging on the “heavily silted” drainage network under BB Ganguly Street. The silted drain, coupled with intense rain, led to the waterlogging, he said.

The Alipore Met office had predicted heavy rain in south Bengal to be brought by a fresh system. For Calcutta, a bulletin issued by the Alipore Met Office on Monday predicts “light to moderate rain” and thundershower on Tuesday. The sky would remain “generally cloudy”, the bulletin mentioned.

The maximum temperature recorded on Monday was 30.1˚C, 2.5 degrees below normal. The minimum temperature was 26.1˚C, 0.6 degrees below normal.

Records shared by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) showed that it rained 26mm at Marcus Square and 51mm at Thanthania between midnight on Sunday and 3pm on Monday.

The KMC records rainfall volume in its drainage pumping stations across the city. A KMC official said the stations at Thanthania and Marcus Square, near College
Street market, reflected the volume of rain around CR Avenue.

According to KMC officials, the silted sewer lines under BB Ganguly Street severely impacted the draining of logged water from the road. In its ripple effect, water started to accumulate in neighbouring streets.

“We have taken up a project to desilt the sewer lines under BB Ganguly Street, but at the moment, the sewer lines are heavily silted. This slowed down the draining out of water and resulted in waterlogging in the area,” said a KMC official.

“We have deployed several machines that are sucking in water from the road and discharging it in dry areas. They are again coming back to repeat the action,” said the official.

Commuters as well as police officers said the traffic slowed down and a queue of vehicles formed on CR Avenue because of the waterlogging.

Metro found long stretches of CR Avenue, between Sovabazar and Chandni Chowk, under water on Monday morning and afternoon.

A man who was on his way to his office in Chandni Chowk said the stretch of CR Avenue, in front of Indian Coffee House, was waterlogged. “I had to walk through other roads to reach my office. The other option was to wade through waterlogged CR Avenue,” said the man.

On stretches that were not completely waterlogged, the edges had knee-deep to shin-deep water. Vehicles avoided the waterlogged edges and preferred to move closer to the median divider. “Vehicles were moving in a single file, and this slowed down the traffic,” said a police officer.

“The stretch of CR Avenue near its intersections with Ganesh Chandra Avenue and BB Ganguly Street had knee-deep water for much of the afternoon. BB Ganguly Street too was under knee-deep water,” said the officer.

Some of the lanes branching off from CR Avenue, too, were waterlogged.

According to KMC officials, the drainage pumping station at Chingrighata recorded 73mm of rain, while Tangra received 71mm of rain between Sunday midnight and 3pm on Monday.