Kolkata: Never-seen-before deluge in New Town, Salt Lake

KOLKATA: Large parts of Salt Lake, New Town and Sector V witnessed heavy waterlogging like never before for almost throughout the day following the overnight heavy rains. The woe for commuters and motorists continued throughout the day with rains continuing till afternoon.
With Kestopur canal heavily overflowing and unable to flush out excess water along with choked drainage lines, several places on the Avenue and Cross roads, including the inner lanes and internal roads of the blocks across Salt Lake, were heavily waterlogged.Several localities at IA, HB, FD, CD, GD, HB and others were in almost knee deep water.

“The situation was terrible. Water seeped into my car and several roads across Salt Lake were inundated as the drainage system collapsed. What added to the problem was the deplorable condition of some roads with large craters and potholes,” said Sankha Subhro Chaudhury, a doctor and a resident of Salt Lake IA block.
Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation officials visited several places to look into the waterlogging situation. An old building in Rajarhat area collapsed during the day. The civic authorities operated over 140 pumps across BMC area to flush out water.

There was heavy waterlogging across New Town with almost all the main roads being heavily flooded. Both flanks of the roads, including the medians, went down under water in many places.
The New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) operated 25 regular pumps and 11 extra pumps to flush out the excess water. “The engineers were all on the roads and the workers located the manholes and put up red flags to alert people,” said an NKDA official.

Residents now fear water contamination as reservoirs in several blocks got submerged. The matter has been informed to NKDA.
Sector V was also heavily inundated in several areas near Wipro, College More and Webel junction. A number of cars got stuck in the water as bikers were unable to ply.

The Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA) operated all its four pumping stations throughout the day but the incessant rains and overflowing Kestopur and Bagjola canal turned the situation worse.