Rain may play 'asura' in Bengal this Durga puja

Rain is likely to play spoilsport in south Bengal this Durga puja, with the meteorological office here on Wednesday predicting light to heavy showers over the next 48 hours, and the government issuing alerts to farmers and fishermen.

Rain is likely to play spoilsport in south Bengal this Durga puja, with the meteorological office here on Wednesday predicting light to heavy showers over the next 48 hours, and the government issuing alerts to farmers and fishermen. A well-marked low-pressure area, formed over the central part of Bay of Bengal, is expected to move north- westwards during next 24 hours and north-north-eastwards thereafter, triggering rainfall in Bengal and Bangladesh, a spokesperson at Alipore met office said.

The low-pressure system is likely to intensify into depression by tomorrow, and deep depression during the subsequent 24 hours, he said. "On October 22, heavy rain (7-11cm) may lash one or two places in East Midnapore, North and South 24 Parganas districts. The following day, heavy to very heavy rain (7-20 cm) was expected at one or two places in the three districts," the spokesperson said.

People in Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, and Nadia, too, should brace for moderate to heavy rain during the two days. "In Kolkata, skies might remain cloudy with one or two spells of light to moderate rain along with thunderstorm on October 22 and 23. Heavy rain might also occur at one or two places," the spokesperson added.

Authorities have issued an alert for fishermen, asking them not to venture into the sea between October 22 and 24. NDRF teams have also been deployed at Kakdwip, Digha and Hasnabad to tackle untoward situation, if any.

A notification issued by the government also said that Kolkata and other areas in the state's coastal districts may experience water-logging, and crops might incur damage too. There will be total suspension of ferry services and water-bound activities at Digha, Mandarmani, Shankarpur, Sagar Island from Thursday to October 24, the notification said.

The government further requested district authorities and civic bodies to inform Durga puja organisers about the weather predictions to help them take timely action to prevent damage to the pandals.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)