Many pockets in Calcutta remained under water till late on Friday, more than 24 hours after the intense spell of rain.

Neighbourhoods in Kasba, Behala and Kidderpore as well as roads in Alipore and Ekbalpore were flooded. In Kasba, stretches of BB Chatterjee Road, P Majumder Road and pockets of Haltu were under knee-deep water.

At many homes water flew over underground water reservoirs. Water supply to a number of homes in Behala were disrupted.

The civic authorities blamed a range of factors for the waterlogging in these areas. A block in a canal that runs under the Majerhat bridge caused the waterlogging in Kidderpore, protests by villagers against running the pumps at a drainage pumping station in Behala led to the flooding in Behala and high water levels in the Bidyadhari river prevented the water in Kasba from being drained out, said Tarak Singh, a member of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation’s board of administrators, who heads the drainage department.

To add to the woes, considerable downpour overnight — between 10pm on Thursday and 6am on Friday — increased the volume of water on the roads.

Several residents of Kasba, however, complained that the pre-monsoon desilting work has been shoddy. The gully pits have not been cleared. As for the manholes, only those on the main roads were cleared, the residents said.

“Before Cyclone Yaas, I saw civic personnel removing silt only from manholes on the main road. They did not clear the silt from the gully pits. As a result, the gully pits could not work to full capacity,” said the Kasba resident.

“The manholes or gully pits in the lanes were never cleaned. That could be a reason why it is taking so long for water to be drained out from pockets like Haltu,” said the resident.

Singh blamed the waterlogging in Kasba on high water levels in the Bidyadhari. “As the level of the water in Bidyadhari was very high, water could not be drained out into the river as much as we expected,” he said.

Several neighbourhoods in Sarsuna, Silpara, Barisha, Begor Khal, Maheshtala and Garden Reach were without power for hours because of the waterlogging.

“We had stopped power supply for public safety.

In some places, the civic and police authorities had asked us to suspend the supply,” said a CESC spokesperson.

There was also a threat of flooding in New Town and Salt Lake if it rained on Friday or Saturday, said an irrigation department official.

The Kestopur and Bagjola canals were flowing near their danger levels, the official said.

On Friday, stretches of VIP Road were under knee-deep water.

The downpour since Wednesday has prompted Calcutta police to nudge the CMC to de-silt the drainage channels under Camac Street, AJC Bose Road, Syed Amir Ali Avenue, Park Circus Connector and Sarat Bose Road to facilitate faster drainage of rainwater.