Rain came again on Monday to disrupt normal life in entire South Bengal, including Kolkata even as authorities were forced to divert flights, delay train services and bring road traffic to a screeching grinding halt.
A cyclonic formation over north-west Bay of Bengal degenerated into a deep depression virtually inundating a large part of the State and threatened to wreck havoc for another 36 hours or so, weatherman said warning the seamen against deep-sea ventures. As many as 26 Kolkata-bound flights were either delayed or diverted to nearby airports like Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Bagdogra or even Dhaka, the Airport Authorities said informing the passengers were remained stranded for hours together at Netaji Subhas International Airport.
“We had to postpone by two days our tickets to Bengaluru” said Nivedita Ray while Pushpani Bhadra said she was waiting for her daughter from Mumbai as her flight had been diverted to Dhaka.
Not only the air services came under cross fire of “crosswinds” that delayed flights but also ferry service on the Hooghly had to be stopped by mid-noon when the huge vessels ferrying lakhs of people daily between Kolkata and Howrah had to be withdrawn as the boats wobbled mid river, authorities said. Train services, in both long-distance and suburban routes were equally disrupted as many trains had to be postponed, Eastern Railway sources said.
Apart from Kolkata, North and South 24 Parganas, two Midnapores, Burdwan, Hooghly, Murshidabad and all neighbouring districts were affected by incessant rains that started from Sunday midnight accompanied by strong winds.
At least a dozen trees were uprooted in Kolkata and two parts of houses collapsed, Kolkata Municipal Corporation sources said adding, none was however injured.