Tuesday evening downpour further reduces city's rain deficit

Traffic crawled and home-goers were stuck on waterlogged roads as a torrential downpour swept through many parts of Bengaluru late on Tuesday evening. 

Just days after recording its driest-ever August, the Garden City received copious amounts of rainfall as the southwest monsoon once again became active over south interior Karnataka. 

The rains, however, brought along the now-too-familiar tale of the city’s crumbling civic infrastructure. 

Underpasses resembled cesspools and streets turned into mini-ponds as water overflowed from clogged stormwater drains. 

Videos shared on social media showed vehicle users wading through waterlogged Thanisandra and Kanakapura main roads. The Hebbal flyover and Jayamahal Road, too, reported waterlogging. 

While the downpour reduced Bengaluru’s rain deficit during the current rainy season, it didn’t quite eliminate it. 

Between June 1 and September 5 (until 11.30 pm), Bengaluru city received 342.2 mm of rainfall as against 367 mm. The HAL airport, representative of the city’s eastern and southeastern areas, fared better with above-normal precipitation. During the same period, it received 332.8 mm as against 313.8 mm, India Meteorological Department (IMD) data shows. 

This month (until 11.30 pm, Tuesday), the city received 116.1 mm and the HAL airport 91.3 mm. The Kempegowda International Airport received 50.5 mm (until 5.30 pm, Tuesday). 

September is traditionally Bengaluru's wettest month. Bengaluru city's mean monthly total rainfall is 208.3 mm and HAL airport's 176.4 mm.

The IMD has forecast a generally cloudy sky with light rain until September 8 and a thunderstorm for a week thereafter. 

A Prasad, who heads the IMD’s meteorological centre in Bengaluru, said the city needed a whopping 37 cm, or more than 1 cm daily, in September to bridge the deficit for the southwest monsoon.