Kolkata: The city could be lashed by a thunderstorm with lightning and gusty winds reaching 40-50 km/hour on Sunday. Heavy to very heavy rain and thunderstorms have been predicted across several districts of south Bengal on Sunday, including North and South 24 Parganas, East Midnapore, Birbhum, Murshidabad and Nadia. On Saturday, one or two places in East and West Midnapore, South 24 Parganas and Jhargram received heavy rain.Light to moderate rain and thunderstorms will continue on Monday and Tuesday across south Bengal, said the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC). A low-pressure area over northwest Bay of Bengal now lies as a well-marked low-pressure area over the same region. “It is very likely to move west-northwestward across north Odisha and north Chhattisgarh during the next 3 days,” said a bulletin issued by RMC.The Kolkata Municipal Corporation will employ manpower 24×7 at the major drainage pumping stations and lock gates along the Hooghly in the event of heavy showers during the weekend. This apart, the civic body’s drainage wing will engage a special sewer-cleaning gang at some of the city’s waterlogging-prone areas to take care of the clogged sewer lines and thus give relief to residents of these areas from inundation for longer hours.These measures are being implemented as part of a preparedness plan, keeping an eye on the city’s inundation pockets. Besides taking a desilting drive to clear the clogged sewer lines, the KMC drainage department will keep ready portable pumps for the city’s low-lying zones in the added areas like Behala and neighbourhoods located off EM Bypass where there is no underground drainage system. “We are keeping portable pumps ready, which will be positioned in several neighbourhoods that fall under the added areas and known as waterlogging-prone. These pumps will be pressed into service as soon as a heavy shower occurs,” said a KMC drainage department official.
