Heavy rains lashed Bengaluru on Wednesday evening which led to flooding and waterlogging in several parts of the city. The weather department on Tuesday predicted more rainfall for the next three days and a yellow alert has been issued. Other parts of Karnataka are expected to receive heavy rainfall over the next five days.
Chamarajanagara, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Kodagu, Bengaluru Rural, Chitradurga, Hassan, Shivamogga, Tumakuru and Mandya districts will receive heavy rain on Wednesday, The News Minute reported.
Here is all you need to know about the flood-like situation in Bengaluru:
What led to flooding in Bengaluru?
According to reports, 59 mm rains were recorded in the Rajamahal Guttahalli area of the city. Visuals on social media showed two-wheelers being washed away on flooded roads and trees fallen on cars parked along the roads. The News Minute reported that the metro retaining wall collapsed near Seshadripuram due to heavy rains.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) control room, according to the Deccan Herald, received complaints of waterlogging from the railway underpass near Seshadripuram, Freedom Park and Banaswadi. Complaints of Waterlogging were also reported from the Outer Ring Road, between Mahadevapura and Marathahalli, Koramangala, Indiranagar and KH (Double) Road.
The city has already received twice the normal rains this rainfall season which started on October 1. According to the Deccan Herald, Bengaluru has recorded 305.5 mm of rainfall so far, which is double the average of 132 mm.
Patterns of changing rainfall seasons
In an earlier interview with BOOM, S Vishwanath, civil engineer and urban planner, said that water-logging situations were "growing up pangs" for a city that "grew over 45 percent every decade". He said, " There has not been enough design and investment in infrastructure in these peripheral areas."
He explained that factors like the boom in development there from office to residential space, and road construction led to such a situation. "There has also been a spell of unprecedented rain that has caused the recent flooding. What we have in Bengaluru is what we call a cascade of tanks (lakes)," he told BOOM.
Rainfall patterns have been erratic in India recently. Delhi and Mumbai too received unprecedented and untimely rains this year.
Delhi has received 121.7 mm of rain in the first 10 days of October, almost three times more than it did in August, with the city receiving 41.6 mm of rainfall. The rain was unusual for the region for the time of the year with the northwestern parts of India, including the national capital, receiving 396% of surplus rains in the first ten days of October. By the first week of October, India had received surplus rain of 6% across the country.