Short but intense rain lashed much of north and central Kolkata on Friday leading to waterlogging on parts of Chittaranjan Avenue, MG Road, Strand Road and Rabindra Sarani.
It rained in parts of south and southeast Kolkata, too, but the volume was far less in south.
Waterlogging on Chittaranjan Avenue forced police to stop the plying of buses on the road for several hours after the downpour.
Parts of Sector V in Salt Lake were also waterlogged for some time.
Figures released by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) showed that the volume of rain was much higher in north and central Kolkata than in the rest of the city.
Maniktala received 59mm of rain between 1pm and 3pm, with 46mm of it pouring between 1pm and 2pm. Thanthania received 46mm of rain between 1pm and 2pm, while Ultadanga received 30mm of rain during the period.
In contrast, Chingrighata received 7.5mm rain between 1pm and 2pm. No rain was recorded in Jodhpur Park and Kalighat.
Ballygunge received 5mm rain between 1pm and 2pm. An officer of Kolkata police’s traffic department said the rain was intense and it affected traffic along Chittaranjan Avenue.
Several stretches of Chittaranjan Avenue were waterlogged even in the evening. Around 3.30pm, the traffic police posted on its Facebook page that traffic had slowed down on Surya Sen Street and Rabindra Sarani because of waterlogging.
“There is knee-deep water on parts of Rabindra Sarani,” the police officer said on Friday evening.
“There is waterlogging near Mahajati Sadan and in front of Md Ali Park on Chittaranjan Avenue. On Rabindra Sarani, the Ganesh Talkies crossing is waterlogged,” he said.
MG Road, especially a stretch near its crossing with Chittaranjan Avenue, was also waterlogged. The waterlogged roads slowed down traffic.
A man in his 50s who was headed north along Chittaranjan Avenue around 5.45pm said it took him about 25 minutes to reach the MG Road-Chittaranjan Avenue crossing from Chandni Chowk.
Around 6.30pm, the queue of Howrah-bound vehicles had reached the Strand Road-Kiran Sankar Ray Road intersection.
To prevent further worsening of traffic, the police stopped buses from plying on a stretch of Chittaranjan Avenue.
Buses headed south were diverted via APC Road from the Shyambazar crossing. Buses headed north were diverted via Lenin Sarani from Esplanade.
An official of the KMC said the sluice gates of the drainage channels could not be opened till 5.30pm because of high tide in the rivers, a reason for the waterlogging in parts of north and central Kolkata.
In Salt Lake’s Sector V, most blocks and intersections were waterlogged, including College More and the SDF crossing. App cab drivers cancelled bookings and even taxis refused to enter Sector V owing to the waterlogged roads.
Places along VIP Road, including the Haldiram’s crossing and Chinar Park, were under knee-deep water. Airport-bound cars were caught in traffic snarls near the Haldiram’s bus stop on VIP Road and at Kaikhali, where the road was under water.
The entire stretch of VIP Road in front of the National Disaster Response Force’s 2nd Battalion was under knee-deep water.
“We managed to drain out the water in half an hour,” said an official of the Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA).
