rediff.com: Floods in West Bengal

"A high alert has been sounded in Calcutta, particularly along the banks of Adi Ganga and Tolly nullah in the southern part, as also the Bagjola canal in the north apprehending a high tide which will be at its peak at midnight," state Deputy Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee told reporters in Calcutta.

Local police stations have been asked to make announcements to alert people in the low-lying areas to shift to safer places before water gushes in, he said, adding the effect of the tide was likely to continue for the next two days.

As a result, Kalighat, Bhabanipore, Alipore and Tollygunge areas in the south, Burrabazar in the north and Maidan area in central Calcutta could be inundated, he said.

Police sources said a sluice gate at Chitpur in the north had given way in the high tide on Monday night and sandbags dumped to stop the onrushing water were also swept away. Parts of Kalighat, Tollygunge and Baghbazar were already waterlogged.

The city experienced a rainfall of 9.9 mm on Tuesday with the Met office forecasting more thundershowers during the next 24 hours, which might aggravate the situation.

A high alert had earlier been sounded on both sides of the Circular Canal in north and central parts of the city following rise in water level due to high tide in the Hooghly on Tuesday morning.

Residents on both sides, especially slum dwellers, were asked to shift to safer places as the water level in the canal remained one feet below the danger mark. Thousands of people residing in Narkeldanga, Entally and Ultadanga adjoining the canal had been alerted.

In view of the impending danger, Mayor Subrata Mukherjee held a series of high-level meetings with officials of Calcutta Municipal Cooperation, Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority and the state irrigation department.

Mukherjee said, water was still entering Palta Waterworks, which supplies drinking water to the metropolis. If the water level in the waterworks increased by one metre than the supply of drinking water could be hampered.

Mukherjee went around the 'high alert areas' to survey contingency mitigation measures. CMC sources said Municipal Commissioner Debasish Kumar had been instructed to monitor the situation from his office round-the-clock and executive engineers, staff manning various pumping stations and borough officials were asked to stay back for the night.

CESC, the city's power supplying agency, has also been alerted to maintain steady supply of power.

Meanwhile, the overall flood situation in the state was improving slowly though the toll shot up to over 516 and 222 persons were missing. The state government demanded the devastation be declared a 'national disaster' and Rs 9.62 billion be released immediately from the National Calamity Management Fund.

The break up of the deaths in nine flood-hit districts where a population of 15 million has been affected are - Birbhum - 222, Murshidabad - 212, Bardhaman - 35, Nadia - 24, Hoogly - 12, Midnapore - seven, Howrah - three, North 24 Parganas - one, official sources said. No death was reported from Malda.

Besides, 200 people were missing in Murshidabad, 12 in Nadia and ten in Birbhum, the sources said.

Food packets were air dropped by Indian Air Force helicopters in Murshidabad, Bardhaman, Nadia and Hooghly.

Briefing newsmen on the latest situation after a high-level review meeting, Bhattacharjee and Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta said the state government had assessed the flood damage at Rs 30.89 billion.

However, based on the terms of reference of the National Calamity Management Fund by the 11th Finance Commission, the state government has demanded Rs 9.62 billion to counter the disaster considering its severity, they said.

The state government also demanded immediate assessment of the situation by central observers, failing which an aerial survey should be made within 24-hours by an advance team.


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Bengal flood toll 516, floodwaters enter Calcutta