Four persons including two children died, taking the rain-related death toll in West Bengal to 14 on Wednesday as heavy rains continued to batter the city and adjoining districts for the second consecutive day, officials said.
Although the water levels in the major rivers across the state are yet to cross the danger mark, formation of a depression close to Gangetic Bengal and forecast of heavy showers in the next 48 hours has kept the administration tense. One person was electrocuted in North 24 Parganas, while another died of snakebite at Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas, official sources said.  Two children while playing in the rain water, slipped into a nullah and were swept away at Sibpur in Howrah district, police said.
Their bodies were later recovered.With the city having received nearly 300 mm of rain since Monday night and forecast of further rains,  Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told newspersons at the state secretariat that even though water has been receding, there is a forecast of heavy rainfall in the next 48 hours. “I have asked the administration to take adequate steps,” he said.
Regional Director of the Meteorological Centre G C Debnath predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in Gangetic West Bengal, including Kolkata, in the next 48 hours due to the formation of a low pressure area over North East Bay of Bengal.
Relief Minister Mortaza Hossain said boats had been pressed into service for relief and rescue operations in the worst affected areas of the city, with Amherst Street, Sukhia Street, Topsia, Tiljela and Ekbalpore in the metropolis still remaining submerged in waist-deep water.