Rain spoils festive mood

Downpour disrupts power in many City areas; trees uprooted

The last day of the grand festival of  lights—Bali Padyami—was restricted just to lighting of lamps.

Not only did the rain fury silence the cacophony of crackers, but it also kept many parts of the City dark for a long time. Areas that receive electricity supply  from the Kadugodi Power Station were the worst hit with the station reporting a rain-induced snag .

Several trees were uprooted in some parts of South and North Bangalore, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike officials said. Five trees were reported to have fallen at Nagarbhavi, Railway Platform Road, Mudalapalya and Chamrajpet.

According to Bescom officials, complaints were also received after tree branches fell on power lines at Subram anyapura, Jayanagar, Herohalli and  in other areas. While the rain was an apparent spoilsport, it was a boon for the traffic police who dealt with a lean Sunday with not too many jams and woes.

The City is expected to sulk for another day, with the Indian Meteorological Department predicting rain for the next 24 hours because of “Jal,” the cyclonic storm across the Bay of Bengal. The department, however, believes that it is normal for the weather to behave like this during  November.

Torrential rain continued to pound other parts of the State, too, with Tumkur, Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts getting heavy showers on Sunday.  The rain fury abated in Shimoga district.

The rain flattened several huts and houses in Mulbagal and other taluks. Normal life was thrown out of gear in Tumkur, Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts.  The week-long rain has dealt a shattering blow to farmers as standing crops worth lakhs of rupees have been damaged.

Ragi crop grown on nearly 49,700 hectares in Kolar district has been destroyed. The farmers are unable to harvest the crop. Agricultural activities have been affected due to the  rain. The farmers fear pest attacks, too, as they have not able to spray pesticides on their crops, said a farmer at Nenamanahalli in Kolar taluk.

Meanwhile, the rain that lashed Shimoga district for the past four days subsided on Sunday. The inflow to the Linganamakki reservoir has depleted to 1,349 cusecs of water and that of the Bhadra reservoir to 4,742 cusecs. As the Bhadra reservoir is filled to the brim, 5,000 cusecs of water is being discharged by lifting four crest gates, said officials.