Intense rainfall spotlights the fault in Kolkata’s aging, clogged drainage systems
india.mongabay.com
On September 23, as Kolkata was preparing for West Bengal’s biggest annual festival, Durga Puja, it encountered roughly 12% of the city’s average annual rainfall in just six hours. From midnight to dawn, it rained 234.2 mm causing severe waterlogging that the city had not experienced in almost four decades. Kolkata is used to cyclonic […]

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/28810928

On Sept. 23, the city of Kolkata in eastern India came to a standstill: The capital of West Bengal state received more than 12% of the city’s average annual rainfall in just 24 hours, some 247.5 millimeters (9.7 inches). The subsequent flooding claimed lives and caused extensive property damage.

Scientists say climate change has made such extreme weather events in Kolkata more frequent, but the city’s stressed and aging drainage system exacerbated the impact, reports contributor Snigdhendu Bhattacharya for Mongabay India.

archived (Wayback Machine)