Over 50 villages in West Midnapore’s Ghatal were inundated since Tuesday night after rivers Parang and Shilabati overflowed in the wake of heavy rainfall in the region.

Over 40,000 persons in the region have been affected by floods in the district’s Daspur-I block, where sources say broken embankments have led to stagnant floodwater in farmlands and residential areas.

Residents of Rajnagar and Narajal gram panchayat areas said on Thursday that almost all farmlands in the area were destroyed, though damage to residential settlements had been minimal owing to construction norms that specify homes on stilts.

“Panchayat officials have been distributing hundreds of tarpaulins and dry food packets,” said Narajal panchayat pradhan Gagan Samanta, adding that 25 mud homes suffered severe damage and those families had sought shelter at a school in Rajnagar.

Among them, Danikola’s Balaram Bhunia, 60, cried for his lost crops.

“We got low rainfall at the start of monsoon because of which our crops suffered. Now floods took away whatever little we were left with. Initially, low rainfall had prompted most farmers to spend extra on hiring pumps (to irrigate fields),” he said, pointing out the irony. Rajkundu resident Manab Bakra, 64, said water was “waist-high”. “People can move around only on boats,” he said.

Daspur I panchayat samiti chief Arun Dolai said officials were “keeping an eye” on the broken embankments and promised repairs soon.

At Arambagh’s Khanakul subdivision in Hooghly district, five low-lying villages were inundated after heavy rain since Wednesday night. Teams led by Hooghly SP (rural) Tataghata Basu took part in relief work on Thursday. District magistrate Y. Ratnakara Rao inspected flooded sites and told residents that officials with life jackets on speedboats would be sent for relief work. Ferries in Khanakul did not ply. The administration used drones to monitor the situation.

In East Burdwan’s Kalna, the overflowing Bhagirathi led SDO Suman Mohanty’s office to start a helpline.