PATNA, July 11 -- Torrential rains battered the state capital and several other districts overnight and into Saturday morning as the monsoon finally asserted itself with full force, leaving low-lying areas submerged and throwing normal life out of gear. Streets turned into rivulets, traffic crawled at a snail's pace and residents waded through knee-deep water in many localities, even as authorities scrambled to clear the deluge.

In Patna, areas such as Rajiv Nagar, Nai Sadak locality of Patna City, Boring Road, Karbigahiya and New Punaichak witnessed severe waterlogging, forcing shops near main roads to down shutters. The LNJP Hospital in Rajvanshi Nagar resembled a shallow lake, with water reaching doctors' chambers and forcing attendan...