Three dead, five injured as gale, rain lash Kolkata

Three pedestrians were killed and five others injured after trees fell on them as a fresh gale pounded a rain-drenched Kolkata on Wednesday evening, throwing normal life out of gear.

Two persons, including a woman, died and five others sustained injuries close to the Jadavpur University on the S.C. Mullick Road in south Kolkata when the gale uprooted a tree which fell on them, police said. The injured, one of them serious, are admitted in a private medical college.

An uprooted tree took another life in the Beliaghata area. The victim sustained multiple injuries and was rushed to NRS Medical College and Hospital where he was declared brought dead, the police said.

 

The nagging rain caused waterlogging in several parts of the city. The downpour increased in intensity in the evening as the gale with speeds of 70 km per hour lashed the eastern metropolis, felling trees and branches which blocked important thoroughfares.

"The city recorded 24.2 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours and witnessed winds with a speed of 70 km an hour at 7.05 p.m.," the Met office said.

"With the well marked low pressure concentrating into a depression over the Bay of Bengal, heavy rains are likely to continue," it said.

Commuters, including people returning from offices, faced the brunt of the rain and gale as many of the areas were choked.

Trains services were also disrupted in the Sealdah South division with uprooted trees falling on overhead wires.

"Train service was disrupted due to fall of trees on the overhead cable at Sonarpur area in the Sealdah South division. The rescue work is in progress and the service will resume soon," said an Eastern Railway spokesperson.

City Mayor Sovan Chatterjee said 22 teams have been pressed into service to remove the uprooted trees and clear the roads.

"We are working on a war footing. We have started cutting down trees. The fire brigade, Kolkata Municipal Corporation men and the police are working in tandem," he said.

--IANS

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