By IANS
Kolkata : Incessant rains claimed three lives in West Bengal Sunday and normal life was thrown out of gear in Kolkata and its adjoining districts due to waterlogging in many areas.
Two persons were killed and dozens injured as hundreds of mud houses collapsed in the coastal districts of West Bengal due to incessant rains following a depression in the Bay of Bengal, official sources said.
Reports said, rainfall since Saturday evening led to the collapse of over 100 mud houses at Sandeshkhali, Nodakhali, Jeliakhali and Usthi villages in South 24-Parganas district.
A man was reportedly electrocuted in the same district, and in Kolkata a balcony collapse at Dalhousie Square critically injured a kiosk owner. He was rushed to the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital (CMCH).
Train services on the Howrah and Sealdah divisions were disrupted, and the circular train service in Kolkata also came to a halt as the tracks at New Barrackpur and Chitpur lock gate area were flooded. The railway signalling system also was affected by the inundation.
A powerful storm severely damaged over 30 houses at a village near Kolaghat in East Midnapore Sunday. Many trees and electricity poles were uprooted in Asansol areas of Burdwan, snapping power supply in the district.
The storm disrupted power supply in Howrah district too. Angry locals ransacked the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) office at Shibpur, protesting power cuts.
Many roads in the low-lying areas like Amherst Street, Sukia Steet, Central Avenue and Thanthania Kalibari in Kolkata were waterlogged. The flooding hit businesses just weeks before the state’s biggest festival, Durga Puja.