India’s IT hotspot Bengaluru faced the wettest year ever in 2017, the met office has said, as heavy rain over the past few days flooded Karnataka’s capital and left at least six people dead since Friday.
Bengaluru – as well as many other parts of Karnataka – are likely to experience more rain in the next couple of months under the influence of the northeast monsoon.
“So far this year, Bengaluru has received cumulative rainfall of 1,655 mm, thereby exceeding the previous record set in 2005,” said L Ramesh Babu, director of India Meteorological Department (IMD), Bengaluru.
Bengaluru recorded 1,606 mm rainfall in 2005, he told HT.
“In fact, almost entire Karnataka has received excess rainfall with only some pockets recording deficient rainfall,” he added.
This excess rainfall comes after two consecutive years of deficient rainfall in the state.
According to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, Bengaluru received 35.5 mm rainfall on Saturday, which was 655.3 per cent above the normal.
But the heavy rain have also exposed poor civic facilities with experts blaming clogged drains and absence of storm water drainage system for the flooding of the technology hub, home to top Indian IT companies such as Infosys and Wipro besides. It also has offices of several multinational companies like Samsung, Oracle and Amazon.
{{/usCountry}}But the heavy rain have also exposed poor civic facilities with experts blaming clogged drains and absence of storm water drainage system for the flooding of the technology hub, home to top Indian IT companies such as Infosys and Wipro besides. It also has offices of several multinational companies like Samsung, Oracle and Amazon.
{{/usCountry}}The city pothole-ridden roads have also led to many accidents involving two and four-wheelers, killing at least four people since October 1.
Faced with mounting criticism, especially from the opposition BJP, chief minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said he could not be held responsible for the excessive rainfall.
Siddaramaiah said he has been residing in Bengaluru since 1983 and he had never seen such widespread rains.