Heavy rains lash Kolkata; 2 killed, 8 injured

Incessant rains lashed the metropolis for the second consecutive day today killing two persons and injuring eight others, besides throwing normal life out ofgear. Police said Zahira Khatun, 35, was electrocuted after she came in contact with a galvanised wire near her shelter at Entally in central Kolkata.

Another person was killed at Debpukur in Titagarh in North 24-Parganas district when a tree fell on him during a downpour, they said. Seven persons were injured when the roof of a house near Fierce Lane collapsed due to rain on Sunday morning. They had gathered there to perform the last rites for a person. Another person was injured at Leningarh in Barrackpore after the wall of a house collapsed on him, police said.

Some low-lying areas in the city's outskirts like B T Road, Khardah and Panihati were water-logged. According to the MeT office, isloated heavy rainfall would occur over West Bengal and its neighbouring states of Jharkhand and Sikkim in the next 48 hours.

Monsoon is active and rain is expected here and in adjacent districts for the next few days, MeT department sources said. Heavy rains had on Saturday inundated circular railway tracks in the city which caused an EMU train to be stranded at Mullickghat station for close to four hours with nearly 100 passengers trapped inside compartments.

There was no disruption in railway services, although a small stretch of tracks at the Liluah carshed was partially waterlogged, railway sources said.