Rain disrupts normal life in Kolkata

Torrential rain swept parts of the country even as the situation in deluge-ravaged Assam improved marginally.

Heavy showers pounded parts of West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, and affected normal life in Kolkata.

The weatherman has warned of “extremely heavy rain” at a few places in southern Rajasthan on Sunday.

Heavy to very heavy rain is predicted at some places in Gangetic West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Sikkim, Odisha, Jharkhand, west Madhya Pradesh and coastal Karnataka.

One death was reported from Morigaon district of Assam even as the overall flood situation improved in the state.

With this, the total number of people losing their lives in this year’s floods has gone up to 76, including eight in Guwahati.

Nearly 90,000 people are bearing the brunt of the floods in 11 districts of the state, according to a report by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA).

Over 31,000 affected
The worst affected is Golaghat, where over 31,000 people have been hit by the deluge.

Sharp showers battered southern and western districts of West Bengal, inundating several rivers, but the authorities ruled out any immediate flood threat.

Heavy rain was reported from Howrah, Hooghly, West and East Midnapur, and parts of Birbhum, Purulia, Bankura and Kolkata, officials said.

West Bengal Irrigation Minister Rajib Banerjee told PTI that two control rooms have been set up to monitor the situation in the districts.

The East Midnapur district administration has advised fishermen not to venture into the sea. Rajasthan also recorded heavy rain.

Barmer received 55.6 mm of rainfall, Sawaimadhopur 51.3 mm, Vanasthali 47.6 mm, Mount Abu 28 mm, Jodhpur 19.8 mm, Jaipur 14.2 mm and Ajmer 12.1 mm. The state has recorded 190.89 mm of rainfall from June 1 to July 21 — which is about 10 mm more than the average precipitation.

In monsoon shockers, an announcer and compere died when a coconut tree fell on her at the Swastik Park area of Chembur in Mumbai, while two boys drowned in the Tungareshwar waterfalls at Vasai in Palghar district as heavy rain continued to pound Maharashtra over the weekend. Kanchan Nath (57), who was associated with Doordarshan as announcer and was also a Yoga instructor, suffered head injury and excessive bleeding when a coconut tree got uprooted and fell on her on Friday morning. She died on Saturday. “We had told BMC to cut the tree, but it was not done,” said  corporator Asha Marathe. As many as 42 trees were uprooted.