(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Heavy monsoon showers - the season's most severe so far € wreaked havoc on suburban train services and inundated vast parts of the eastern metropolis disrupting normal life yesterday, officials said. An infant was washed away and drowned.
The Met Office recorded 14cm rainfall from Thursday night in Alipore and 16cm in Dum Dum area close to the airport.
A six-month-old baby was swept away by the rising waters while sleeping with his parents on a pavement in north Kolkata's Muktaram Babu Street, police said.
"The baby was recovered from Bidhan Sarani and was declared dead by doctors at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital. We are awaiting the post mortem report. There was water-logging in the area where the parents were sleeping on Muktaram Babu street," deputy commissioner of police (central division) Bastab Baidya said.
Four long distance express and 60 suburban trains were either cancelled or delayed as heavy overnight rains submerged rail lines on the Sealdah division of Eastern Railway.
On the Baruipur-Lakshmikantapur section of Sealdah South, water from overflowing ponds flooded the railway tracks, forcing cancellation or delays to 40 train services.
In Sealdah Main, 20 trains were cancelled or delayed due to water-logging on the Kankinada-Naihati section, an Eastern Railway release said.
With many major thoroughfares and arterial roads in Park Circus, Central Avenue, Park Street, Jadavpur, Baishnabghta, Behala, Belgachia under knee deep water, schools stayed shut and attendance in offices and commercial establishments were below normal. All matches in various divisions of the Kolkata soccer league were washed out.
In Patuli on the city's southern outskirts, policemen were seen using a boat to monitor the situation.
In south Kolkata's Purna Das Road, uprooted trees snapped power connection, prompting the Kolkata Police personnel and officials of Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation to rush to the spot to restore electricity.
Traffic crawled on the E.M. Bypass, the stretch that connects eastern Kolkata to rest of the metropolis.
Damaged roads due to ongoing metro extension work added to driving woes. Cabs refused to ply at many places due to flooding and passengers were fleeced.
"This was the highest rainfall ever since the monsoons arrived in West Bengal on June 19. Some places received more than 16 cm of rainfall. South Bengal was more affected," the deputy director general of meteorology (eastern region) Devendra Pradhan said
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