Sudden showers bring Bengaluru to its knees

Weekend plans of many Bengaluru residents were washed out owing to sporadic heavy rainfall in many parts of the city on Saturday. 

Waterlogging at Sagar Junction near Dairy Circle.

Waterlogging and slow-moving traffic was reported across the city. Traffic from and towards the airport was severely affected due to waterlogging on both sides. Many people in the CBD could be seen struggling to book auto-rickshaws or cabs and a tree fall on Seshadri Road slowed down traffic movement.

Hebbal junction, Nagawara, Horamavu, Hennur, Kasturi Nagar, Ramamurthy Nagar, Windsor Manor underbridge-Mehkri Circle, and the Outer Ring Road were among the most affected areas.  

A fallen tree at Seshadri Road.

“The situation is not as bad as it was earlier this week but the water from the rajakaluve has overflowed onto the road and it is flooded again. The BBMP just pumped out the water yesterday,” said Nadia, a resident of Sai Layout.

“There was heavy traffic on the BGS flyover till the Rajarajeshwari Nagar arch in the evening. The rain made matters worse, contributing to slow-moving traffic,” said Purushotham, a resident of RR Nagar.

Heavy rains lead to waterlogging on MG Road.

Sarjapur Road near Kodathi Gate saw vehicles wading through waterlogged road. A local resident Varghese Thomas said, “We have to live through this mess every day. Imagine what the school kids have to go through every day while commuting. I really hope the authorities wake up to this reality and work out a solution.”

A resident of Blessing Garden Layout, Byrathi, reported that homes in two blocks got flooded even though the rainfall was lower this time compared to Tuesday. “This is mainly because the storm water drain in our locality is just 1.5 feet wide and perennially blocked. It is more of an infrastructure issue than an issue of excess rainfall,” he said.

Yellow alert Yellow alert from Saturday to Monday for Uttara Kannada

Udupi Belagavi Dharwad Haveri Gadag Shivamogga Chikmagaluru Hassan Kodagu Chitradurga Davanagere and Tumakuru districts. A shear zone lies over South Interior Karnataka under the influence of which widespread rainfall will persist till October 22 adding that North Interior Karnataka and Coastal Karnataka are very likely to experience fairly widespread rainfall till October 22 IMD said.

Forecast According to the Meteorological Centre India Meteorological Department

Bengaluru city observatory received 17.4 mm of rainfall with thunderstorms while the HAL observatory recorded 12 mm of rain until 8.30 pm.  “The rainfall in Bengaluru is due to circulation in the west central Bay of Bengal and adjoining Tamil Nadu coast” said N Puviarasan Scientist F and Head Meteorological Centre Bengaluru. Amid isolated heavy rainfall forecast he noted that the IMD has issued a yellow alert in Bengaluru and a heavy rainfall alert for the city on Sunday.

Waterlogged

Some roads where waterlogging was reported include Hennur Main Road Ballari Road Sarjapur Road Old Airport Road Bannerghatta Road Marigowda Road MG Road Cunningham Road Silk Board and Hebbal flyover.