Saturday evening’s torrential rains, the second heaviest this year, drove Bangalore to a virtual standstill as several streets were flooded, a number of localities waterlogged, many roads choked with traffic and trees uprooted at a few places.
The downpour caught Bescom unawares as people flooded it with complaints of power failure.
The City recorded 57.8 mm rain by 11.30 pm and the Airport 10.1 mm, according to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). The heavy rainfall lasted just half an hour, from 5.30 pm to 6 pm. Thereafter, what remained was a drizzle. The downpour meant that the target of normal rainfall in August — 14 cm — was achieved with almost a week to spare.
Till Saturday, Bangalore City received 16 cm of rainfall.
The IMD has forecast a similar situation on Sunday. The skies are expected to remain cloudy till Sunday morning before giving way to bright sunshine. “If the temperature shoots up for about four hours, the City is likely to receive another downpour,” an IMD official said.
From Yeshwantpur to Yelahanka, Indiranagar to Okalipuram, K H Road to Nagawara, Mekhri Circle to Domlur, Viveknagar to Ulsoor, Thippasandra to Sarjapur Road, and Basaveshwara Nagar to D J Halli, RPC Layout to Mysore Road, the rain fury reigned all over. Motorists were stranded at several places.
Streets were waterlogged at Basappa Layout in Sudduguntepalya, Begur, Ejipura, Ramamurthy Nagar, Vijinapura, Kuvempu Street, Koudenahalli, HSR Layout and Mangammanapalya. Water gushed into a few houses at Medalli in K R Puram and Pai Layout.
“The situation has worsened because of the silt in the drainage,” Simon, a resident of Pai Layout, said. Residents had a tough time pouring water out of the flooded Ganesha temple in Jayanagar 8th Block. Two trees were uprooted in Malleswaram and RPC Layout, where a car was damaged. KG Road, Platform Road, Subedar Chatram Road, BVK Iyengar Road, Krishna Flour Mill Junction, Basaveshwara Circle, Kino Circle and Shivananda Circle witnessed huge traffic jams. Bescom received 500 complaints, in addition to the 1,300 it received on Thursday, on power supply being disrupted as trees were uprooted in several parts of the City. The number of complaints, in Bescom’s own words, is a record.
P Manivannan, Managing Director, Bescom, said teams were being dispatched to address the problem. The rainfall reduced the daily consumption of power in the City. “There has been a decrease in consumption by 30 per cent within Bescom limits, especially agriculture demand,” he said. The power utility agency has set up a helpline (22873333) for consumers.