Power outage, traffic snarls as Bengaluru inches towards highest rainfall in 60 years for May

Even as Bengaluru is close to breaking the record for the highest rainfall in 60 years for the month of May, Saturday’s pre-monsoon showers and strong winds resulted in waterlogging and tree felling in some parts of the city.

As has become the norm when it rains, electricity supply was also disrupted in many parts of the city due to successive days of rainfall. Waterlogging and uprooted trees also adversely affected traffic movement across city, media reports said.

Reports said water entered as many as 50 houses in areas such as —  Uttarahalli, Bommanahalli, Kumaraswamy Layout, Chikkalasandra on Saturday.

Three persons were injured due to the uprooting of a tree in JP Nagar, added The Hindu report.

Bangalore Mirror reported that as many as 62 recording stations registered heavy rainfall, out of which 22 recorded more than 64.55 mm of rain. The highest rainfall of 110.5 mm was recorded at Hegganahalli.

The country’s IT capital had been experiencing intermittent showers for two straight weeks.

Following Friday’s rains, passengers in two cars needed to be rescued after getting submerged while traversing trough an underpass, The New Indian Express reported.

On Friday, Bengaluru recorded 83.4 mm of rainfall- incidentally the highest precipitation for a day since 2006.     

With three more days to go for the end of May, Bengaluru has recorded a total rain of 236.36 mm this month. The record for the maximum amount of rainfall in May is in 1957, which witnessed 287 mm, reported Mohit M Rao for The Hindu.  

Weathermen at Skymet predict rainfall on Sunday and following days too, although the intensity is likely to be lesser than that of the past couple of days.

These pre-monsoon showers are a welcome change as far as groundwater is concerned after three straight rainfall deficit years. The city’s civic authorities, however, continue to remain underprepared .