MANGALURU/UDUPI: Mangaluru was battered by relentless, heavy downpour on Tuesday after the south-west monsoon hit the coast, three days ahead of the expected date. Udupi too received heavy rain on Tuesday.
According to the weatherman, rain is expected on Wednesday too.
Mangaluru received a record 350-mm rainfall, said to be the highest in a single day in many decades. Heavy rains which started on Monday night continued into Tuesday morning, with a brief respite. By noon, Mangaluru’s Pumpwell and KMC Attavar areas saw two and four-wheelers submerged.
A 62-year-old woman died after a wall collapsed behind her house at Udaynagar in the city on Tuesday, while a 69-year-old bedridden man fell from his cot and drowned in the rainwater that had inundated his house in Kodialbail. In Udupi district a 35-year-old woman died following a lightning strike when she was at her house in Bailoor, Karkala, on Monday night.
Traffic in many parts of Mangaluru came to a standstill. People began to rush to their homes after hearing reports of areas submerged and parents hurried to schools to bring back their wards. Both Mangaluru and Udupi have declared holiday for schools on Wednesday.
In Udupi, many hoardings and nearly 70 electricity poles collapsed. A banyan tree in Udyavar was uprooted and fell onto the road, blocking the traffic. Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Tuesday took stock of the situation in coastal Karnataka.