BENGALURU: If you remember the flooding from two years back during the monsoon, brace yourself for worse news. The city is set to receive up to 4 centimetres (40 mm) of rainfall this weekend, raising serious concerns about preparedness in dealing with incidents of flooding or tree damage. Two years back, the city received around 2.06 cm (20.6 mm) of rainfall and it caused widespread havoc. Officials from the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) expressed fear that the city could not handle 4 cm this time around.
According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), heavy rainfall is likely across interior Karnataka, including Bengaluru on Saturday and Sunday. Several ongoing civil work projects across the city are going to make matters worse when the clouds open up, officials said.
Speaking to The New Indian Express IMD- Bengaluru Director in-charge CS Patil said that a low-pressure area is forming over the North-East Bay of Bengal area and its neighbourhood which will bring ‘heavy’ to ‘very heavy’ rainfall across interior Karnataka, an indication of intensifying monsoon in the coming days. With the formation of the system, rainfall will be severe, touching its peak on June 22 and 23.
KSNDMC Director G S Srinivasa Reddy said that so far there was a deficit of 33 per cent in the monsoon so far across Karnataka with many parts yet to be covered. The onset of monsoon has already witnessed a delay of more than 20 days this year.
The weathermen blamed Cyclones Vayu and Fani for the delay. They also said there was not sufficient ocean heating to bring in thunder activity. According to IMD, this is the first time in the last nine years that monsoon has been delayed. Actual date for the onset of monsoon is June 1.