By IANS
Kolkata : Heavy overnight rains swamped Kolkata Tuesday as boats were used to reach succour to people marooned in the northern parts of the city while eight deaths were reported from the flooded metropolis and its two adjoining districts.
The deaths were due to wall collapse and electrocution, police said.
Six members of a family died early Tuesday at Bishnupur in South 24 Parganas district when a wall of their house collapsed due to heavy rainfall, district superintendent of police S.N. Gupta told IANS. One person died of electrocution in the Madhyamgram area of North 24 Parganas district.
In central Kolkata's Entally area, 21-year-old Moti Sheikh died after a wall collapsed on him.
The city reeled under knee to waist deep waters as boats were pressed into service in the worst hit Ahmerst Street area in north Kolkata after rainwater flooded the ground floors of several houses.
The Met office recorded 175 mm of rainfall since Monday evening.
Several trains on both Sealdah and Howrah sections were disrupted due to water logging on the tracks. Bus services were disrupted in Kolkata while cars got stranded in every part of the metro.
"There is water logging, but our pumps worked to drain out the water. We have tried our best to pump out the water," said Kolkata Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, even as the city's drainage system collapsed in the few hours of rain.
The mayor was the target of the ire of citizens who called up TV stations to register their anger. He called a press conference to offer some explanation even as his own car, a Scorpio, was stranded in a waterlogged Kolkata street.
He was briefly mobbed by the opposition Trinamool Congress councillors.
However, the inclement weather did not affect flights.
"Flights are taking off and landing, and our operations are on since the morning," said V.K. Monga, director Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport.
The admission process in colleges like Presidency and Lady Braboune was halted for a while due to the rain. The Rabindra Bharati University postponed its MA exam that was to be held Tuesday.