Kolkata, Aug 27 (IANS): A number of major thoroughfares were inundated resulting in traffic jams as heavy rains lashed the city since dawn Tuesday, weather and traffic police officials said.

The amount of rain recorded during the past 24 hours till 8 a.m. Tuesday stood at 58.5 mm, said a weather department official.

Traffic crawled at a snail's pace as major thoroughfares were under ankle to knee-deep water.

Kolkata Traffic Police personnel manning bottlenecks in E.M. Bypass, Park Circus, Ultadanga flyover and other roads had a tough time guiding traffic as water-logging affected vehicular movement.

The Alipore Met office forecast "heavy rain and thundershowers throughout the day".

According to a senior weather official, the inclement weather Tuesday is due to a cyclonic formation over the Bay of Bengal.

"A low pressure area is forming over the Bay of Bengal and a majority of districts of the state will receive heavy rainfall Tuesday," an official of the Alipore Met office said.

On Monday, four people died when they were struck by lightning even as normal life was thrown haywire following heavy rains that uprooted trees and lamp posts in Kolkata and adjoining areas.

Three students died after being struck by lightning at Deganga in neighbouring North 24 Parganas district, while one person succumbed at Durgapur Math of east Kolkata.