KOLKATA: A thundershower between 7. 30pm and 9pm left parts of north and central Kolkata waterlogged, leaving pandal-hoppers on Shashthi evening disappointed. However, south Kolkata that received light rain for a brief period was spared.
Thanthania and Maniktala received the heaviest rain with the KMC drainage pumping stations recording 80mm and 78mm in a couple of hours. Palmer Bazar in Beliaghata, Ultanganga and Chingrighata also received 53mm, 43mm and 42mm of rain, respectively. The heavy showers left parts of Central Avenue, Sukeas Street, Chittaranjan Avenue, Bidhan Sarani, Vivekananda Road and MG Road and pockets of central Kolkata waterlogged.
Pandal-hoppers scurried for cover and were then left stranded for over an hour as the thundershower accompanied by lightning made it impossible to step out. Though most of them were back on the street after the downpour stopped, the crowd relatively thinned out before building up later at night.
The Saturday evening was just a precursor to the wet weather ahead, said the Met office. Kolkata is set to have a wet festival with intermittent spells of moderate to light rain over the next four days. The showers may not be heavy butthe repeated spells — triggered by a cyclonic circulation over northeast and east-central Bay of Bengal — could hinder pandal-hopping, especially on Saptami and Ashtami. The rain may turn light and infrequent on Nabami and Dashami, said the Met office.
An offshoot of typhoon Noru that had formed overPacific Ocean, the circulation is set to form by Sunday morning. But it will neither move towards the Bengal coast nor intensify further. A low-pressure trough, however, will form between the system and Bangladesh across Gangetic Bengal that will lead to rain in the city, said the Met office.
“While the circulation is likely to move towards the Andhra coast, the trough will lead to rain in Kolkata and south Bengal. It started getting cloudy from Saturday evening and the clouds will persist for the next four days. Due to the cloud cover and the rain, day temperature will drop,” said Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) director G K Das.
North Bengal, on the other hand, could receive light rain till Sunday after which the showers could get moderate and last till October 5.