Heavy rain in Bangalore

BANGALORE, July 20, 2013

Two dead as rain lashes Bangalore

Staff Reporter

 

Heavy rain on Friday disrupted life in Bangalore leading to traffic jams at several places. Two persons were killed in rain-related incidents. Motorist had a tough time negotiating the flooded roads in the city. Bescom received 1,998 complaints in four hours. — Photo : K Murali Kumar

At least two persons died as heavy rain lashed the city between Thursday night and Friday evening.

Venkataswamy (55) died on Thursday night after a wall built by the BBMP at Ramamurthy Nagar collapsed on him and Kumaraswamy (40), a garment worker, drowned after he fell into a storm-water drain in spate at Koramangala.

The poor quality of the infrastructure of the city put thousands through untold hardship as trees collapsed, drains overflowed into houses, power blacked out and traffic moved at a snail’s pace.

A measure of the chaos in the city can be had from the fact that Bescom received 1,998 complaints in four hours between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Friday. Large parts of East and South Bangalore saw power outages after the feeders developed faults. Five electricity poles collapsed at Heganahalli on the Bangalore–Tumkur Highway putting the lives of motorists at risk.

Trees crashed down on Miller’s Road and the ripple effect of the traffic jam could be felt at Vasanthnagar, Shivajinagar, Kumara Park and surrounding areas. Similar incidents were reported from the BDA Complex in HSR Layout, near Gayatri Hospital in Vijayanagar, 18th cross Rajarajeshwari Nagar as well as BTM Layout Second Stage, Katriguppe, Begur, Nandini Layout, Sanjayanagar and Austin Town.

Traffic was blocked for several hours not just in the Central Business District but also on Mysore Road, Old Madras Road, HAL Airport Road, J.P. Nagar and Hosur Road. Television channels beamed visuals of cars and motorcycles negotiating knee-deep water in several parts of the city. This newspaper received several calls from citizens stuck in traffic for several hours. Flooding of houses was reported from Anandapuram slum, near Jeevan Bima Nagar, Belakalahalli, D.J. Halli slum.

46.6 mm rain

The city received 46.6 mm of rainfall in the 12 hours between 8.30 a.m. and 8.30 p.m. on Friday. Including this downpour, the city recorded 127.2 mm of rainfall so far this month , making it the wettest July in five years.