Heavy overnight rain lashes Kolkata & suburbs, tree uprooted on Strand Road

Kolkata was lashed by heavy overnight rains that began late Thursday night, leaving several parts of the city and suburbs heavily waterlogged by Friday morning. According to the Alipore Meteorological Department, there is a 90 percent chance of rain continuing throughout the day on Friday, with estimated temperatures fluctuating between a maximum of 31°C and a minimum of 26°C. The sudden, intense downpour caused direct disruptions across the city, including an incident on Strand Road where trees were uprooted due to the stormy conditions.

The active weather situation has been triggered by a cyclone formed over East Bangladesh alongside an active monsoon axis extending from Rajasthan across Gangetic West Bengal to the northeast Bay of Bengal. In response, weather officials have issued a yellow alert for sporadic heavy rain in South Bengal, which is predicted to continue until Monday. Particular warnings for heavy rainfall have been directed at South and North 24 Parganas, East and West Midnapore, East Burdwan, Nadia, Murshidabad, Hooghly, and Howrah, while fishermen have been strictly banned from venturing into the rough sea on Friday and Saturday due to expected wind speeds of 50 to 60 kmph.

The weather disaster is simultaneously affecting North Bengal, where an orange alert has been issued on Friday for very heavy rainfall, specifically targeting Alipurduar. A subsequent yellow alert remains in place until Monday for the districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, and Uttar Dinajpur. The weather office expects scattered rain with thunder and lightning to persist across all remaining districts of the state over the next five days.