As West Bengal struggles to stay afloat, Met forecasts more rainfall till August 6

“Thunderstorm with lighting, along with light to moderate rain are very likely to occur at most places over the districts of Gangetic West Bengal during 4th to 6th August. Due to the presence of a Cyclonic Circulation over North Bay of Bengal and the adjoining area, and the passing of the eastern part of the monsoon trough from Sriniketan, Diamond Harbour thence to Northeast Bay of Bengal, widespread rainfall activity is likely to occur over the districts of Gangetic West Bengal during 4th to 6th August, 2021,” read a statement issued by the Met department.

It warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall at one or two places in North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur, Purba Bardhaman, Paschim Bardhaman, Howrah and Hooghly districts till Thursday morning.

Heavy rainfall is also expected to occur at one or two places in Kolkata, Bankura, Purulia, Birbhum and Jhargram districts, the Met department added.

The weather department has issued yellow warning for East and West Midnapore and the South 24 Parganas, predicting 7 to 11 cms of rainfall at one or two places in these districts on Thursday.

A similar warning has been issued in one or two places in Purba Medinipur, Jhargram, Bankura and Purulia districts as well.The impact of the cyclonic circulation over North Bay of Bengal is being felt in the coastal areas.

From Sriniketan in Birbhum, there is a seasonal axis extending over Diamond Harbour to the north-west Bay of Bengal. The weather office said that it will bring more rain accompanied by lightning.

Meanwhile, North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, East and Purba and Paschim Medinipur and Purba and Paschim Bardhaman received heavy to very heavy rains on Wednesday. Several areas of Howrah, Hooghly and Medinipur were inundated.

Traffic movement in Kolkata came to a crawl due to persistent waterlogging in the low-lying areas of the city. Large parts of the city such as Amherst Street, College Street, Haldiram (on VIP Road) went under water following very heavy rainfall on Wednesday. The showers worsened the already grim situation in the flooded low-lying areas of the city.

The weather department also cautioned against rise in water level of rivers and flooding of low-lying areas in Gangetic West Bengal.

At least 15 people died, and over three lakh were displaced due to incessant rain over the past few days, followed by release of water from DVC dams flooding large parts of six Bengal districts.

With inputs from PTI