Man and beast survey the sea on Amherst Street on Monday. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Nature’s fury did not spare even the chief minister on Monday. By evening, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s ground-floor Palm Avenue flat was under ankle-deep water. He got the news around 7.20pm and headed home, instead of stopping over at Nandan.

Bhattacharjee also had to abandon his regular ride, an Ambassador, for a Scorpio on his way home for lunch, as well as in the evening.

He reached his flat around 7.55pm. Fire services and police personnel got there soon after to drain out the water from the flat.

By the time Bhattacharjee had left for lunch, there was about three feet of water outside Writers’ Buildings. “This kind of waterlogging last happened outside Writers’ in 1987,” said a PWD official.

In the north, the Kankurgachhi-Ultadanga stretch was under waist-deep water. Further north, VIP Road was dotted with cars that had broken down with stalled engines.

“It has been raining continuously since Saturday evening. The authorities should have anticipated the waterlogging and taken precautionary measures,” complained Sohini Saha, struggling to reach the VSNL building where she works as a customer care executive.

In the south, the stretch between Rashbehari Avenue and Deshapriya Park was among the worst hit. Cars were being pushed down both flanks of the road. Even stretches of Sarat Bose Road were under knee-deep water.

Park Street, too, went under water, with most of the shops remaining closed.

The water level continued to rise in Behala and Thakurpukur throughout the day, causing panic.

“During the last deluge, country boats were used in Basundhara Park to reach the people. This time, we don’t know what we will do if the situation persists,” said the councillor of ward No. 126, Shyamadas Roy.

“We are using 20 pumps to drain out the water. If the rain continues, we will use more pumps. We will meet the mayor on Tuesday to apprise him of the situation,” added Roy.

The situation was almost the same in BB Chatterjee Road and Haltu in Kasba. “This is a natural calamity. There is very little that we can do besides waiting for the rain to stop. Even if it stops raining on Monday night, the waterlogging situation is not going to improve before Wednesday afternoon,” said the chief engineer (sewerage and drainage) of the civic body, Tushar Ghosh.

In the east, Tiljala Road, Tiljala Lane and GJ Khan Road were waterlogged.

In most hospitals, very few senior doctors and house staff reported for work. A number of minor surgeries were cancelled. The major state-run hospitals, including SSKM, NRS, RG Kar, BC Roy children’s hospital and National Medical College and Hospital were under ankle-deep to knee-deep water.

The NRS Hospital compound was flooded. “It was difficult to transfer patients from one block to another on trolleys because of the waterlogging,” said a hospital official. Relatives of many patients fell into the drains but there was no major accident, he added.

Calcutta University postponed its B.Ed, MA philosophy Part-II, MBA (finance) third semester and M.Tech radio physics and electronics second semester examinations.

Train services were hit by the rain. On the Sealdah South section, trains stopped plying after 7pm as the tracks were under water. Landslides between Dum Dum Junction and Dum Dum Cantonment also disrupted trains. There was another landslide in Ballyghat, on the Sealdah-Dankuni section. Four platforms on Sealdah Main section could not be used because of waterlogging.

A Jet Airways flight from Chennai could not land at the airport in the evening because of bad weather. It was diverted to Hyderabad. Some other flights had to hover about 10 minutes before landing.

A dilapidated building at 92 Shree Ram Dhang Road, in Howrah, collapsed around 3.30pm. It was vacant for a long time. The remaining portion of the building can collapse any time.

The incessant rain and waterlogging put paid to pre-Puja shopping plans. “The sale has been very low from Saturday evening because of the rain. We did not have a single customer today. With this kind of waterlogging, we will suffer a huge loss,” said the store manager of a garments shop on Camac Street on Monday.

Most of the shops in the shopping hub of New Market-Lindsay Street-Free School Street remained closed.