South Bengaluru, Anekal inundated in Saturday’s showers

A resident of Pramod Layout throws dirty water out of his home. DH PHOTO/IRSHAD MAHAMMAD

After the record rains in October, torrential downpours continued in November as well with the city experiencing an unexpected cloudburst on Saturday.

Though the day remained sunny, dark clouds rolled in by late evening and it began pouring, leaving the civic authorities confused.

So intense was the rain that several lakes and streams breached their banks in three hours due to the excess inflow of rainwater.

Sources at the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) told DH that Bengaluru South witnessed heavy rains at midnight on Saturday that continued till the early hours of Sunday.

“The sudden rain is attributed to the prevailing upper cyclonic air circulation over the peninsular region. This was spotted two to three days ago, developing over South India from the Sri Lankan side. The forecast predicted moderate to heavy rain with thunderstorm activity,” a meteorologist from KSNDMC explained.

Bengaluru Urban, which should have received 1.70 mm of rains on Saturday, instead of recording a downpour of 4.70 mm, a deviation margin of 168%.

“The regions of Bengaluru South and Anekal received the highest rainfall. In South Bengaluru, we recorded about 8.7 mm (1.8 mm normal) rainfall, while it was 4.6 mm (2 mm normal) in Anekal,” the official said.

The KSNDMC’s data for the BBMP regions revealed that nearly 28 wards received moderate to heavy rainfall.

“About 21 stations in South and West Bengaluru received moderate rainfall, were as seven wards in South Bengaluru like Vidyapeeta, Jayanagar, Basavangudi, VV Puram and Chamarajpet received very heavy rainfall on Sunday night,” the official explained.

Though the rainfall conditions have fizzled out, meteorologists said moderate to heavy rains with thunderstorm activities would likely continue in a few areas and in south-interior Karnataka on Sunday night and also on Monday.

(With inputs from Sudhanvi JP)