Even as water subsided fairly quickly in Kolkata following the rains on Monday morning, Howrah remained waterlogged for more than 24 hours after the deluge. Choked sewers, saturated outlets and poor pumping arrangements have combined to turn the town into a basin. The municipality lacks basic facilities like drainage pumping stations and has no doesn't have access to modern equipments.

The result has been sheer misery for its inhabitants. Large parts of Tikipara, Belilius Road and Belilius Lane, remained under water on Tuesday, along with several wards in north Howrah and Panchanantala Road. Despite using 22 pumps to drain out the water, hundreds of homes remained flooded. Residents had to wade through knee-deep water which gushed into homes, leaving them marooned. The Howrah Municipal Corporation's efforts to tackle the situation proved grossly inadequate.

The district has 523 km of drainage, of which just 60 km is covered. The rest being open, tend to overflow whenever it rains heavily. Since a huge volume of domestic waste and factory effluents are channeled into the drains, they choke frequently. The problem has been compounded by the mushrooming of high-rises over the last five years. Many have been built on the drains, making them inaccessible to civic workers. GT Road, Salkia, Ramrajatala, Belilius Road and Tikiapara have been the worst sufferers.

Outlets, too, have been an obstacle. In north Howrah, the only outlet Rani jhil is the only one and it is saturated. The other one that runs along Drainage Canal Road to join the pocha khal before flowing through Nazirganj into the Ganga is choked as well.