A homemaker died and a couple was injured when their respective homes collapsed in two south Bengal districts during incessant rain since Tuesday evening that lashed major parts of south Bengal.
A low pressure, which formed over northwest Bay of Bengal and its adjoining areas, triggered the continuous rain.
Areas of South 24-Parganas, particularly under Canning-II block, Hooghly’s Khanakul, North 24-Parganas, East Midnapore’s Patashpur, West Midnapore’s Sabang and Pingla bore the brunt of rain.
In West Midnapore’s Chandrakona, homemaker Pratima Bag, 37, died on Tuesday night when the wall of her thatched house collapsed when she was asleep. Neighbours rushed her to the block hospital where she was declared brought dead.
At East Midnapore’s Ramnagar, Bimal Sheet, 48, and Sankati Sheet, 42, were critically injured when their thatched house caved in amid heavy rain during the wee hours of Wednesday. The couple was rushed to the local hospital, but had to be shifted to a hospital in Calcutta after their condition deteriorated.
“There has been an intense spell of heavy rain since Tuesday evening that left an impact on several areas of West Midnapore, East Midnapore, South 24-Parganas and Hooghly. Several trees, electric poles were uprooted as well as a few thatched houses collapsed as soil strength had weakened at the base,” said an official of the disaster management wing at state secretariat Nabanna.
Weather department sources said till 6am on Wednesday, West Midnapore recorded 110mm rainfall followed by 80mm in East Midnapore. Among towns, Haldia recorded 216mm rainfall and Contai 103mm, leading to severe inundation in both municipal towns. Midnapore and Kalaikunda of West Midnapore recorded 148mm and 167mm rainfall, respectively. Diamond Harbour in South 24-Parganas received 150mm causing waterlogging in at least 10 wards of the town and prolonged power cuts.
The situation in West Midnapore’s Pingla and Sabang has created serious concern for the state administration.
“The intense overnight rain inundated several areas of Sabang that are yet to recover from the previous floods. According to an estimate, 42,000 houses have been damaged in the fresh inundation, even as 32,000 people remain camped at relief centres. We are trying hard to meet the demand of tarpaulins and other relief items but everything appears insufficient,” said Manas Ranjan Bhunia, water resources investigation and development minister and Trinamul MLA from Sabang.
“About 23,000 hectares of paddy and betel orchards of around 1,400 hectares are devastated,” he added.
West Midnapore’s disaster management officer Sandip Biswas said they opened new relief camps.”
Senior officials monitoring the weather observed that the impact of the depression is comparatively low in coastal South 24-Parganas and parts of East Midnapore contrary to the IMD forecast in the absence of strong wind. But incessant rain waterlogged and flooded several areas.
Intense rain prompted the district administration to open new relief camps in already flooded Pataspur, Khejuri-1 and Contai in East Midnapore. “We had to shift 500 people on Tuesday night following fresh flooding,” an official of the district administration said.
Officials in Hooghly are worried about possible floods in Khanakul and Arambagh. “We are closely watching the situation and have evacuated 400 persons,” said Deepap Priya P, the Hooghly district magistrate.
Ponds and water bodies are flooded at Sagar in South 24-Parganas. “Apart from the rain, we are anxious about the scheduled high tide on October 6,” Sagar BDO Sudipto Mondal said.
With inputs from Anshuman Phadikar in Tamluk
