BENGALURU: Wednesday’s rains dampened the festive spirit of many Bengalureans in the city. The rains that started in the afternoon led to choking traffic on numerous roads. The rains, which began around 4 pm, coincided with the peak traffic hours, and this, in turn, forced many commuters to take at least two hours to travel from their workplaces to their homes. Twitter was flooded with stories about commuters taking a couple of hours to travel just a few kilometres on inundated roads.
Twitterati named Old Airport Road, Richmond Road and Bannerghatta Road among roads with slow-moving traffic. A tweet by a traffic police official mentioned that heavy flow of traffic from all parts of Bengaluru was converging towards Majestic bus station as many were leaving the city for Dasara vacation.
As per the Indian Meteorological Department’s observatory, the city received 45.3mm rain on Wednesday. As per data collated by weather helpline Varuna Mitra, the highest rainfall in the city was seen in Lalbagh (58mm), Nagarbhavi (39mm), RR Nagar (30mm), Kodigehalli (43mm), Kottigepalya (29mm) and Kengeri (38mm).
The BBMP control room received complaints of water entering buildings at several places, including at Gandhinagar and Shantinagar. Several trees were uprooted and many roads were flooded, including Srinivagilu Main Road (near Koramangala passport office), Mysuru Road and Mysuru Road flyover. On Agaram Road, the traffic was compounded by festive processions.
On Srinivagilu Main Road in Koramangala, poor drainage system resulted in water being present on the road long after the rain had subsided. Incidentally, citizens of the area have been complaining of clogged drains for years. Last year’s rainfall had seen water entering houses and basements, causing substantial damages to vehicles.
According to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), rainfall in Bengaluru Urban district ranged from 0 to 88.50mm. With Wednesday’s spell, Bengaluru city crossed 1,000mm of rainfall this year.
Keep umbrellas ready till Saturday As per Indian Meteorological
Department (IMD), the forecast for Thursday till Saturday reads “generally cloudy sky with one or two spells of rain or thundershowers”, indicating similar spells as those seen on Wednesday. Last week, IMD had predicted heavy showers for the city this week. From Sunday till October 23, the forecast of “partly cloudy sky” indicates that rains could subside.
Over the next week, the minimum temperature is expected to be in the range of 19-20 degrees, while the maximum temperature between 28 and 29 degrees. October is typically the last month of the year which receives substantial rainfall. Rainfall this week could be one of the last last ones for the year. The city received high pre-monsoon rains this year, which was followed by a lull from June to August. Rainfall again picked up in September again.