Kolkata’s Heaviest Rain in 37 Years Kills 10, City Flooded Ahead of Durga Puja

Kolkata and its adjoining districts were battered by the city’s heaviest rainfall in 37 years during a relentless six-hour spell from Monday midnight to Tuesday morning, leaving large parts of the 335-year-old metropolis inundated. At least eight people died in Kolkata from accidental electrocution, while two more deaths were reported in North and South 24 Parganas, officials said.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), rainfall peaked at 98 mm an hour—just short of the 100 mm threshold for a cloudburst. By Tuesday morning, the Alipore station had recorded 251.4 mm of rain, the highest since August 1988.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced early Durga Puja holidays for government schools, directed colleges and universities to shift to online classes, and advised state employees to work from home for two days. She urged private institutions to follow suit and cancelled several puja inaugurations as pandals across the city were submerged.

“It was almost like a cloudburst. Scary and unprecedented,” said Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim, noting that some parts of the city received over 300 mm of rain in just five hours.

Flight operations remained mostly unaffected, though one Kolkata–Pune service was diverted to Bhubaneswar. Eastern Railways cancelled five express trains and rescheduled one due to flooding.

The IMD attributed the deluge to a low-pressure system over the Bay of Bengal that moved inland toward West Bengal and Odisha. Another low-pressure area is likely to form over the northwest Bay of Bengal around September 25.