A branch of a tree fell on a scooter due to the rains in Bengaluru on March 22, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Dhiraj Shetty
The first rainfall of the year on Saturday (March 22, 2025) exposed the chinks in Bengaluru’s civic armour as several roads were waterlogged and drains overflowed along with incidents of tree-fall, including the one which killed a three-year-old girl, and power cuts reported in many areas.
According to the data from India Meteorological Department (IMD), Bengaluru City received 11.8 mm rainfall while Bengaluru KIAL station recorded 38.6 mm rainfall with thunderstorm on Saturday.
The effect of rain spilled over to Sunday (March 23) morning too, as fallen trees obstructed traffic movement in areas like Koramangala and J.C. Road. On J. C. Road, the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) cleared the tree from the road to restore traffic movement. There was also some waterlogging at the Central Silk Board bus stop.
Citizens furious at BBMP
The data from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) shows that a total of 25 trees and 75 branches fell on March 22 across eight zones. In Yelahanka zone which received up to 50 mm rainfall, there were 12 fallen trees with 40 fallen branches.
Further, there was waterlogging at many important roads of the city, including the airport road which faced severe traffic congestion affecting travellers. Kogilu Cross, Ramamurthy Nagar, Kasturi Nagar, K.R. Puram, Outer Ring Road, Hebbal and Veerannapalya are some of the areas where severe waterlogging was observed. A few subways in the city were also inundated, including Kodigehalli.
Despite a gap of several months before the last rain of 2024 and the first rain of this year, citizens questioned why the BBMP was still under-prepared to handle the rainfall in the city. As the BBMP got into action on Sunday morning, clearing shoulder drains, a social media user said, “BBMP should have been ready. These small steps could have brought bigger differences.”
Replying to a post about BTP staff clearing the drains on Hebbal flyover, another social media user said, “BBMP should have done this in January – February. But they never do this at all.”
Bengaluru Central MP, P. C. Mohan also posted on X “Bengaluru’s first summer rain, and the city is already drowning—imagine the monsoon! Wake up, BBMP.”
Bescom helpline receives over 78,000 calls
Rainfall in Bengaluru has become synonymous with power cuts. Even on March 22, several areas in the city like Hebbal, Basaveshwara Nagar, BTM Layout, HSR Layout, Kadubeesanahalli, Vyalikaval faced power cuts lasting anywhere between two to seven hours. Many also complained that 1912, the helpline number of Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom), was not reachable.
“As there were rains everywhere in the city, we received more than 78,500 calls yesterday on the helpline number. While we received 33,277 calls, 45,308 calls were abandoned due to the high number of calls. A total of 21,126 complaints were registered,” said a Bescom official.
Light to moderate rains likely
The rainfall on Saturday led to a dip in the minimum temperature of the city. A bulletin shared by IMD said “During the last 24 hours, appreciable fall in minimum temperature was observed by Bengaluru City (-3.4 degrees celsius) and Bengaluru KIAL Airport (-2.4 degrees celsius).”
The weatherman has predicted generally cloudy sky with light to moderate rain/thundershowers likely on March 23 in the city, with strong surface winds at times. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 30 degrees celsius and 20 degrees celsius respectively.
Published – March 23, 2025 01:32 pm IST
