Heavy Downpour: Kolkata Airport Runways Submerged, Video
Kolkata: Despite severe downpours inundating the West Bengal capital and its neighboring districts, flight operations at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport continue without disruption. Recent footage shows both the runway and taxiways submerged under water.
Kolkata, along with nearby areas such as Howrah, Salt Lake, and Barrackpore, has been battered by continuous rain. This weather event is linked to a low-pressure system that has intensified into a deep depression. Meteorologists report that this low-pressure system is currently moving towards Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, bringing with it an active monsoon trough over southern West Bengal, resulting in persistent heavy rain.
📍Kolkata | Flight operations at Kolkata Airport are proceeding normally despite heavy rainfall. Both the runway and all taxiways are fully operational.
However, a few parking stands are affected by waterlogging for which additional pumps have been deployed. pic.twitter.com/ddrEu4rmVE
— NDTV (@ndtv) August 3, 2024
Numerous parts of Kolkata are experiencing waterlogging, with the situation expected to persist throughout the day. The southern districts, including Howrah, Paschim Bardhaman, Birbhum, Purba Bardhaman, Hooghly, Nadia, and the North and South 24 Parganas, are likely to face continued rainfall over the next 12 hours.
In central and south Kolkata, ankle-deep water has been reported in several areas. Since Friday afternoon, certain parts of the city have recorded up to 7 cm of rainfall. Despite the deluge, the maximum temperature in Kolkata on Friday was 30.1 degrees Celsius, which is 2.4 degrees below normal. The minimum temperature was 26 degrees Celsius, slightly below the usual by 0.6 degrees.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued multiple alerts due to the current weather conditions. A ‘yellow’ alert has been issued for heavy rainfall up to 11 cm in Gangetic West Bengal districts, including Kolkata. An ‘orange’ alert, indicating heavy to very heavy rains, is in place for the districts of Purulia, Murshidabad, Malda, Coochbehar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, and Kalimpong. Alipurduar district is under a ‘red’ alert, with predictions of rainfall up to 20 cm.
