Three persons were killed after being struck by lightning in Ballari while several houses were damaged in Hassan, as heavy rains lashed parts of Karnataka.
The deaths were reported from Ballari, Sandur and Hosapete taluks in Ballari.
The rains were accompanied by gusty winds that even brought down a high tension power lines in Ballari, as per The Hindu.
Five high-tension power transmission towers fell near Bannigol village in Hagari Bommanahalli taluk in Ballari.
The rains however brought relief from the sweltering heat in several other parts of the state including Mandya.
While trees and electricity poles were uprooted in KR Pet and Srirangapatna in the district and vehicles were left stranded on roads, the rains also brought cheer to residents by bringing down the temperature.
Meanwhile, heavy rains also affected parts of Bengaluru leading to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre issuing moderate flood alerts in the city.
Explaining the rainfall and thunderstorm in the state, Sunil Gavaskar, meteorologist at KSNDC SAID, “This rainfall is due to the trough which is going over Karnataka, and there is also an upper air cyclonic circulation near Tamil Nadu coast, due to which we are getting additional rainfall.”
He added that more rain is expected in the state during the weekend. "Intermittent showers of moderate rainfall are expected in Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka. The systems in place will remain the same," he added.
However, a message doing the rounds in Bengaluru and other parts of the state stating that a cyclone is hitting Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Maharashtra, is a hoax.
A message stating, “A storm called Sagar is going to hit Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Maharashtra with in 24 hours on today, at starting the wind speed will be 70 to 80 kmph and later it gradually increases to 90 - 100 kmph,” is doing the rounds in Bengaluru.
The message is mostly being forwarded along with a satellite image of the south Indian peninsula covered in clouds.