Tangra leads the pack with 185 mm rain; north sinks, south stays above
Times of India | 26 July 2025
Kolkata: The heaviest rainfall of the season caused inundation in major parts of north and central Kolkata on Friday, while south Kolkata was spared the pain of waterlogging barring in a few known pockets.
According to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), heavy rain lashed several areas in north and central Kolkata from Thursday night, which intensified after midnight. KMC drainage department sources reported that regions including Dum Dum, Maniktala, Ultadanga, Beliaghata, Thanthania, Amherst Street, Muktarambabu Street, College Street, and Bowbazar received over 100 mm of rain by Friday morning. In contrast, south Kolkata areas such as Kalighat, Chetla, Alipore, Kidderpore, Tollygunge, and Jadavpur experienced less rainfall. However, during the day, drainage pumping stations in south Kolkata, including Ballygunge and Jodhpur Park, recorded heavy rainfall.
Among KMC drainage pumping stations, Pagladanga recorded the highest rainfall at 185 mm, followed by Maniktala (177 mm), Thanthania (158.4 mm), Ultadanga (157 mm) and Chinrighata (118 mm). In south Kolkata, Jodhpur Park and Ballygunge drainage pumping stations recorded 122 mm and 114 mm of rain, respectively, by Friday afternoon.
A KMC drainage department official stated that high tide in the Hooghly exacerbated waterlogging in several north-central Kolkata areas. "We had to keep our lock gates along the Hooghly shut in two phases. First during late Thursday night and the wee hours of Friday and then for four hours during Friday afternoon due to the presence of a high tide. This made the waterlogging severe in several parts of north-central Kolkata," the official said. Despite these challenges, the vigilance of civic engineers at major drainage pumping stations and sewer cleaning teams on the ground could prevent prolonged flooding of major areas.
The official further claimed that a massive desilting drive launched earlier this year was effective in combating flooding after the season's heaviest rain. "Due to effective desilting of the underground trunk brick sewer lines, storm water could recede faster. Even a few years ago, our drainage network had the capacity to flush out 6 mm of rain per hour. Now the capacity has crossed 12 mm. We are trying to enhance the capacity further. We have undertaken the construction of several drainage pumping stations and decided to augment the capacity of some existing pumping stations," the KMC drainage department official said.