BENGALURU: A seven decades old house of an aged couple collapsed due to continuous rain at Chamrajpet in Bengaluru. Fortunately, the couple escaped unhurt.
Local police and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) team rushed to the spot and inspected the area after the incident.
Bengaluru has been experiencing continuous rain since the midnight of November 30 due to the impact of cyclone Fengal that battered Puducherry and North Tamil Nadu.
Due to continuous drizzling, residents and motorists of areas including Market, Chickpete, Sultanpete, Balepete, Cottonpete, Vijayanagar, Kamakshipalya, Majestic, Mysore Road, Basavanagudi, J.P. Nagar, Malleshwara, J.C. Road, Visvesvarayapura, Vidyapeetha, Yelahanka, R.R. Nagar, V. Nagenahalli, Pulikeshinagar, Arakere, HSR Layout, Nagpur, Cottonpete, Chamarajpete, BTM Layout, Hoodi, Silk Board, Hebbala and other parts faced inconvenience due to the traffic, which moved at a snail's pace, because of the ongoing civic works.
Officegoers, college and school students were inconvenienced on Monday as the departments concerned did not declare a holiday despite the IMD warning.
Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner Jagadeesha said that only Kolar and Chikkaballapura Districts have declared holidays to educational institutions as the cyclone didn't have much impact on other parts of the region.
Residents, including children and aged people, complained about cold, fever and cough following the rains.
The Chief Commissioner, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Tushar Girinath has instructed the BBMP engineers to be on alert and check the situation in low-lying areas.
Twenty-eight tree-cutting teams of BBMP have also been instructed to rush to the spot and remove the uprooted trees and fallen branches reported in BBMP limits.
As the India Meteorological Department has predicted rainfall for two more days, the weather department is likely to issue a Yellow alert asking the citizens as well as local administration to be on alert and take precautions.
Autos, taxis fleece passengers
As the rainfall continued throughout the day in the city, auto and taxi fares more than doubled suddenly. Auto and taxi drivers demanded up to Rs 250 instead of Rs 100. Due to the rain, passengers had no other option but to travel by paying more. In some cases, citizens complained that they had no other options but to cough up the money.