Bengaluru breaks annual rainfall record

Bengaluru city has received 170.6 centimetres of rainfall this year, the highest since records began.

The feat was achieved on Saturday night as the southwest monsoon remained vigorous over Bengaluru and other parts of South Interior Karnataka in what has turned out to be an extraordinarily unusual rainy season.

The copious rainfall this year has already caused some of the worst urban floodings in recent memory and wrecked Bengaluru’s poor infrastructure.

As per data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), rainfall measured by its Bengaluru city observatory this year stood at 166 centimetres till 8.30 am, Saturday.

This was just short of the 170 centimetres that the observatory had measured in 2017, an all-time record. By 8.30 pm, the record was broken as the observatory recorded a further 4.6 centimetres of rain in the 12-hour period, taking the total rainfall this year to 170.6 cm.

The IMD observatory at the HAL airport has also recorded 170.3 cm of rain this year, another all-time record.

The city is forecast to receive more rainfall as the met department has issued a yellow alert (meaning heavy rainfall) until 8.30 am, October 17, for Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts, an IMD official said.

A thunderstorm struck many parts of the city, causing waterlogging and traffic jams on Saturday. Traffic crawled towards Marathahalli and the surrounding areas during the day after the police barricaded the stretch near Suranjas Das Road, HAL Main Gate, due to a huge pothole. Potholes also appeared on the Hennur underbridge, slowing traffic towards Hebbal and KR Puram. Traffic jams were also reported on both sides of the road in KR Puram, according to the police.

The basement of an apartment complex situated in VV Puram, South Bengaluru, was flooded following heavy rains. BBMP workers managed to empty the water, an official said.

The vehicular movement to Mysuru was affected due to waterlogging on the newly built expressway. Police diverted the traffic towards Mysuru via Nagamangala, Pandavapura and Srirangapatna.