Girl swept away as rains lash Bengal

A girl was swept away by water current in west Bengal's Murshidabad district, while a woman died in a house collapse in Howrah as the state flood toll mounted to 41 with heavy overnight rain across the state.

The rain crippled the normal life in Kolkata, hitting the train services.

In Murshidabad's Andulia, a girl was carried away by a strong current as continuous rains through Friday night led to a flood-like situation. The nagging rains are due to a deep depression over Bay of Bengal caused by cyclone Komen.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had Friday evening put the death count at 39.

"We have received reports about the incident. 81 relief camps have been set up across the district," said Amitava Bhattacharya, officer-in-charge of the district's disaster management team.

In Howrah's Panchla, rains triggered the collapse of a mud house leading to the death of a woman and injuring her husband.

At least 7000 villagers are being sheltered in relief camps in the district, officials said.

Stretches in Burdwan, Birbhum, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts still submerged, and seven lakh people affected.

In Ghatal in West Midnapore, boats were pressed into service.

Several parts of Kolkata were waterlogged. The Met Office recorded 117.4 mm of rainfall till 8.30 am on Saturday.

Slum-dwellers near Kankurgachi and Ultadanga in east Kolkata battled the inclement weather with layers of tarpaulin sheets and plastics woven around their huts but the inundation has left them in dire straits.

Water-logging also forced members of many family residing on the ground floor in duplexes to move up to the upper storeys.

The water level of the Ganga stood at a high of 6.64m at around 1.41 pm on Saturday during high tide, said a River Traffic Police official, adding heavy rains had added to the swelling.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has pressed into service over 300 pumps from its permanent pumping stations in different parts of the city in addition to 360 more portable pumps to drain out the water.

Train services were hit on Saturday following heavy overnight rainfall Athat flooded some crucial railways stations and car shades.

The Eastern Railway (ER) cancelled one train while the other trains were runnign late.A

The South-Eastern Railway (SER) rescheduled two trains on account of waterlogging.