Bengaluru records highest August rainfall in five years: IMD

Bengaluru has broken yet another weather milestone by logging its highest August rainfall in five years, according to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Bengaluru has recorded 63.3 mm of rain till Wednesday morning, the highest in the last five years recorded in August, officials from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. As per the department records, the average rain during this month was 3.0 mm.

People remove a tree that got uprooted and fell on an auto-rickshaw due to heavy rainfall, at Chamrajpet, in Bengaluru on Wednesday. (Agencies)

The highest rain for August was reported on August 15, 2017, when the city recorded 128.7 mm rain. Since June 1, Bengaluru has received 459 mm rain, a departure 150% more than normal.

Civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) chief commissioner Tushar Giri Nath said the city will not face the issue of waterlogging as it did last year. However, several localities in Bengaluru like Horamavu, Sarjapur, Bellandur, Nandini Layout, M S Palya, K R Puram, Jnana Bharati, Kaggadasapura, and Jakkur reported waterlogging on Monday and Tuesday.

The department has also predicted heavy rain over Bagalkote, Gadag, Haveri, Koppal, Raichur, Kalaburgi, and Vijayapura districts in north interior Karnataka and has put these areas on ‘yellow alert’ on August 3 and ‘orange alert’ on August 4 and 5.

Heavy to very heavy rain is also likely to occur at isolated places in Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu districts and they have been put on red alert till August 5 and Ballari, Chitradurga, and Shivamogga districts till August 5, added that department.

The IMD said that areas which will witness heavy rain in the next few days may see localised flooding of roads, waterlogging in low-lying areas, and closure of underpasses mainly in urban areas.

It added there will be an “occasional reduction in visibility due to heavy rain. Disruption of traffic in major cities due to waterlogging in roads may lead to increased travel time, the department officials said. “Minor damage to kutcha roads. Possibilities of damage to vulnerable structures. Localized landslides/mudslides,” said the department.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed in the coastal districts of the state, said officials.

Mild tremors reported

Meanwhile, mild tremors were experienced in Mary Hill and Padavinagady areas on Wednesday. People felt tremors between 10 am to 10.30 am. In a few schools, the teachers reportedly shifted the students out of the building in the vicinity as a precautionary measure.

According to the government figures, 59 people have died and over 2,000 houses have been severely hit or destroyed due to rains since June 1. The state government released official statistics on Tuesday regarding the damage due to heavy rains in parts of Karnataka. Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai had also held a virtual meeting with the deputy commissioners of 11 rain-hit districts on Tuesday and took stock of the damages caused by incessant rain and floods in the state since June 1.

The authorities informed that agricultural crops in 3,499 hectares of land and horticultural crops in 2,057 hectares were destroyed and nearly 4,000 houses were partially damaged. The number of livestock deaths stood at 99. Further, 13 districts in the state were affected heavily because of the rains, according to the report.

The report also stated that 61 relief camps were opened because of the rains and nearly 7,000 inmates were housed there. At least 8,000 people were evacuated from their houses which were either damaged or completely destroyed by the rain, according to the report.