The season’s heaviest rain battered the city between Monday night and Tuesday morning.
The showers resulted in waterlogging in some parts of the city and low attendance in several schools.
A similar scene played out on Monday morning as well.
If anything, Tuesday’s showers were heavier, and forced at least two schools to shift to online classes.
Between 8.30pm on Monday and 8.30am on Tuesday, the Met office recorded around 70mm of rain in Alipore.
From 8.30am to 8.30pm on Monday, Alipore had received around 50mm of rain.
In Met parlance, 60mm of rain in 24 hours qualifies as heavy.
Before the current spell — triggered by a low-pressure belt on the Bay of Bengal — the city’s most rainy spell was between August 27 and 28, when the Alipore Met office recorded 53.7mm of rain in 24 hours.
But the previous spell was triggered by local thunderclouds. The showers led to a monsoon surplus in September so far in Kolkata.
The city had recorded rain deficits in both July and August.
Early on Tuesday, the junior section of South Point and classes Nursery to VII at The Cambridge School messaged parents, saying classes would be held online.
In the message, South Point said the decision was taken owing to “incessant rain and waterlogging in some areas”.
“Parents had been calling the school and sending messages that there was waterlogging in some areas. So we decided to shift to the online mode up to Class V,” said Krishna Damani, trustee, South Point.
The Cambridge School saw two consecutive days of online classes for students from Nursery to Class VII.
“As a school administrator it is difficult to give off when there are other alternative modes available,” said Sarojesh Mukerjee, director of The Cambridge School.
The low-pressure area over the Bay had intensified into a deep depression before entering land in Odisha on Monday morning.
By Tuesday afternoon, the system had weakened into a low-pressure area over central Madhya Pradesh and “expected to move northwest”, according to a Met bulletin.
The weather in Kolkata is likely to be overcast for the next 48 hours, said G.K. Das, director, IMD, Kolkata.
“The sky is likely to be cloudy. Intermittent rain is likely.”
“There is a possibility of another cyclonic circulation on the Bay around Sunday, which could lead to another wet spell mid-week. But it is too early to make any prediction,” said an official.
