After intermittent showers on the arrival day of monsoon in south Bengal, heavy rain coupled with lightning and wind lashed Kolkata and its surrounding districts on Tuesday afternoon. Three people were killed in thunderclap in Bankura.
Rain poured heavily in Kolkata, North and South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Howrah, Hooghly with several pockets of the city inundated and many trees were uprooted choking traffic movement. The wind speed hovered between 35 and 55 kmph in Kolkata.
Unlike previous years, monsoon reached south Bengal before north Bengal. However, the south-west monsoon did not disappoint northern Bengal as it finally arrived today with Falakata, Sevoke receiving 108.6 and 110.4 mm rain respectively.
The regional meteorological department, Alipore said a low-pressure precipitated over north Bay of Bengal which intensified into a depression. With the depression crossing Bangladesh coast on Sunday night, the city received moderate rain. Today monsoon further advanced into Gangetic West Bengal triggering first heavy monsoon showers in the city.
However, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted light to moderate rainfall over the next three days in south Bengal while north Bengal would receive heavy to very heavy rain during the same period. Malda, North and South Dinajpur, Murshidabad, Nadia, Birbhum are also likely to receive heavy rain.
The state government has deployed disaster management teams across the state along with opening a 24-hour control room at Nabanna. It has issued high alert for the coastal areas.