Heavy showers lash south interior Karnataka

Parts of south interior Karnataka, including Bengaluru, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Mysuru and Ramanagara, received heavy rain on Saturday evening coupled with thunder and lightning, giving a much-needed respite from the scorching heat.

The weather experts attributed the rain ranging from moderate to heavy rainfall to formation of a trough over the Peninsular region. According to meteorologists, the cloudy weather conditions with light to a moderate spell of rains likely to continue till Monday.

Sources in Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) revealed to DH that various taluks of Kolar and Chikkaballapura, including Bangarpet, Malur and Mulbagal, Bengaluru Urban and Rural, Ramanagara, Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts received moderate to heavy rainfall on Saturday evening. Data from the KSNDMC revealed that the several taluks of Kolar district received heavy rain with Malur alone accounting for 64 mm followed by Marikuppam 26 mm, Kysamballi 20.5 mm, Mulbagal 19 mm until Saturday evening.

Similarly, Chintamani in Chikkaballapur also received 26.5 mm rainfall while Gundlupet in Chamarajanagar received 10 mm of rainfall.

Parts of Mysuru district and Sakleshpur and Halebid taluks in Hassan district also registered spells of moderate rain since Friday night.

In Mysuru taluk, Varuna, Varakodu, Pillahalli, Mellahalli, Vajamangala, Chikahalli and MB Halli received rains during the wee hours of Saturday.

“The sudden rain is due to the formation of a trough extending from Tamil Nadu to Telangana including parts of South interior Karnataka districts. This has resulted in thundershowers along with squally winds in certain pockets of the region. The situation is likely to continue till Monday. While it is common to witness hot and humid day, it is likely to cause downpour towards evening,” explained Dr G S Sreenivasa Reddy, Director of KSNDMC.

The prevailing situation has resulted in bringing down the day temperature by a couple of degrees Celsius in the last two days. “What was used to be 32 and 33-degrees centigrade has come down to 29 and 30 degrees Centigrade,” Dr Reddy briefed.

The sudden showers, while bringing down temperatures, have also triggered worries among farming communities in the region. The mango crop which had begun to bloom is reportedly hit severely by the rains. Several trees in some of these taluks were uprooted due to heavy winds and downpour.