Cloudburst cripples Kolkata; residents ride pickup trucks through flooded streets

Kolkata woke up to mayhem on Tuesday, 23 September, after a midnight cloudburst unleashed over 300 mm of rain in just five hours, flooding large parts of the city and its suburbs. The deluge left at least seven people dead by electrocution and brought daily life to a grinding halt.

With buses, cabs, and even bike taxis largely off the roads, stranded commuters scrambled for alternatives. In some areas, desperate office-goers hitched rides in pickup trucks to reach their destinations, highlighting the scale of the disruption.

Parts of Kolkata and adjoining South 24-Parganas recorded extremely heavy rainfall on Tuesday, with Kamdahri, Garia, and Mominpur logging 332 mm and Alipore 247 mm, according to IMD Kolkata.

Officials said the downpour, caused by a midnight cloudburst, brought large areas of the city to a standstill. However, the Met department indicated that rainfall intensity is now likely to ease or stop over Kolkata.

Metro services, usually a lifeline for the city, were crippled too. Operations were suspended between Mahanayak Uttam Kumar and Rabindra Sarobar stations after floodwaters submerged tracks, leaving thousands stranded during peak morning hours. At Masterda Surya Sen Metro Station, commuters voiced their frustration. “I’m on my way to the office, but it’s extremely difficult. Even bike taxis aren’t running,” said Deepak, while another resident, Lalit Parida, summed up the situation as “chaos.”

Mayor Firhad Hakim described the downpour as “unprecedented” and “horrific,” blaming backflow from the overflowing Hooghly river for worsening waterlogging. He warned residents to stay indoors amid risks of electrocution and said it would take 12–14 hours for water to recede if rains stopped. But light showers persisted through the morning.

Kolkata Municipal Corporation officials, working under Hakim’s watch at the KMC headquarters, were instructed to work on a “war footing” to restore order, even as the city prepared for Durga Puja festivities beginning 27 September.

With IANS inputs