Fed by a powerful depression that has been lying centred along the Orissa-Bengal coast in the Bay of Bengal, rains accompanied by strong wind pounded the city and adjoining districts since wee hours of Sunday, leaving vast areas waterlogged.

A thirty-second tornado that hit four villages in Bagnan subdivision in Howrah district around noon injured three, uprooted powerlines and damaged dozens of hutments, official reports said.

The tornado later travelled to South 24 Parganas district and struck Canning, Sandeshkhali and Jeliakhali in the Sunderbans Islands and damaged several mud structures and a forest rest house, reports said.

People darted out of homes and took shelter in fields. A kiosk owner in the city was seriously injured when a dilapidated balcony fell on him at Dalhousie Square in the city’s business hub. He was rushed to hospital in a critical condition.

Large areas of the city have turned into vast cesspools  of water with streets and key centres of commerce going under knee-deep water. Boats have been pressed into service in the worst affected parts of Amherst Street, Behala and Alipore. Train services in the Howrah and Sealdah divisions have been disrupted.

The railway signalling system was also affected.  The Met office in Kolkata cautioned that the low pressure intensifying into depression would trigger further moderate to heavy rains in the next 24 hours and advised the fishermen not to venture into the sea.