From over 200 fallen trees to several damaged vehicles to a tree branch disrupting even Namma Metro services, nothing in Bengaluru was spared by the heavy rains and gusty winds which lashed the City on Sunday, throwing normal life out of balance from evening to well into the night.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) received 206 complaints about fallen trees and 41 complaints about fallen branches up to 10 p.m. A total of 99 trees were uprooted just in the South Zone. The civic body also received 38 complaints of water stagnation.
The falling of so many trees and branches along with inundated roads caused traffic jams across the city even though it was a Sunday. Commuters navigating flooded roads with water up to their knees was a common sight on many roads.
“Today due to heavy rains, we have had waterlogging at 58 locations and tree fall at 39 locations on important arterial roads of Bengaluru. Congestion is high,” said M.N. Anucheth, Joint Commission of Police (Traffic), Bengaluru.
Outer Ring Road, K.R. Puram, Hoodi, Airport Road, Hebbal, BTM Layout, Hosur Road, Koramangala, K.R. Puram, R.T. Nagar and Yeshwantpur were among the areas worst affected.
A massive tree fell on Hosur Main Road near Christ University, leading to road blockage and subsequent traffic jam. The incident caused over 20 Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses to be stuck on the road, and multiple private vehicles were forced to reroute.
Commuters expressed their frustration with the recurring issue. A BMTC driver caught in the jam, commented, “The road has been jammed for over an hour, and the passengers are facing a lot of trouble since they had to get off the buses and walk. This is a common occurrence every monsoon season. Bus drivers cannot do anything about it as large vehicles cannot reverse.”
Underpasses inundated, vehicles damaged
Elsewhere in Seshadripuram, a bus going towards Majestic was stuck after an underpass was highly inundated. BBMP also barricaded the K.R. Circle underpass after it was inundated beyond safe levels for vehicles.
Across the City, many drivers said that visibility was severely affected due to the heavy rainfall. “I could not see the vehicle in front of me, if not for the hazard lights everyone on the road had turned on at around 6.30 p.m. Most of us parked our vehicles and waited for rain to subside,” said Nikhil S., who was commuting on Tumakuru Road.
Along with this, there were reports of 10 bikes which were damaged near Hulimavu after a tree fell on them while many cars were damaged in Jayanagar, Basavanagudi and Banashankari due to the same.
The weather also led to many electrical feeders tripping and other infrastructure damage resulting in power cuts lasting hours in various parts of the City, including Jayanagar, HSR Layout and Whitefield. On June 1, a total of 21 electric poles were broken in Bescom jurisdiction while 39 lines were damaged after trees fell on them.
103.55 mm rainfall in the City
According to data provided by India Meteorological Department (IMD), around 103.5 millimetre rainfall was recorded in Bengaluru Urban station on Sunday between 6.30 p.m. to 10.35 p.m. An orange alert was issued for isolated heavy rainfall with gusty winds up to 40 – 50 kilometres per hour in Bengaluru Urban and Bengaluru Rural districts between 10 p.m on Sunday and 1 a.m. on Monday.
The weatherman has predicted generally cloudy skies with light to moderate thundershowers in Bengaluru until June 6.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar said that all precautions had been taken to ensure that there is no major damage in Bengaluru due to heavy rainfall. “Along with the monitoring of the water flow in stormwater drains, measures have been taken to ensure there is no waterlogging on roads. While I was on my way to a meeting, even I noticed that there was water up to three to four feet on the roads. The control room is active, and I will conduct inspections all night long,” he said.
