Voters should remember this ‘shame’ old story

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Moderate to heavy rain battered Bengaluru on Monday. The two-hour downpour resulted in waterlogging of arterial roads in several parts of the city, including those in the south division.

It started raining around 3.10 pm as an intense shower that affected traffic as well as business of street vendors. What followed was power outage in several parts of Bengaluru. There were reports of waterlogging in several low-lying areas and underpasses leading to traffic snarls and affecting normal life.

According to News Trail sources, areas such as Majestic, City Market, Kalasipalya, Shantinagar, Rajajinagar, Jayanagar, Vijayanagar, Chandra Layout, Nagarbhavi, Nayandhalli, Kamakshipalya, Basaveshwar Nagar, Nandini Layout, Banashankari, Basavanagudi, Srinagar, Hebbal, RT Nagar and Mathikere experienced heavy rain.

Motorists were stranded for over two hours and roads were flooded and drains overflowed. Residents took to social media to share visuals of the waterlogged roads and traffic as the rain battered the city. Heavy showers, lightning and thunder were also reported in the southern areas of Bengaluru.

Several areas around HSR Layout, Bommanahalli, Bellandur and Whitefield reported power cuts following the rain. Street vendors especially at the market areas including Kalasipalya, Jayanagar, Majestic, Vijayanagar, Yeshwantpur, Kamakshipalya and Mysuru Road, suffered badly due to the sudden rain. They had no option but to pack up and move to a safer place.

In a way, their business was badly affected. Taking the opportunity, several activists shared photos of waterlogged areas on twitter and wrote, "On 10th May vote for Roads, Rajakaluve & Lakes not caste, religion & region. Be wise and save your future!" the post read. According to the IMD, the city saw 6 mm of rain in the last 24 hours.

The maximum and minimum temperatures on Monday settled at around 28.1 and 21.4 degrees Celsius. Fortunately no flooding or waterlogging was reported from Mahadevapura and surrounding areas as they said to have experienced light to moderate rain. A yellow alert was announced for the districts of Hassan, Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu and Mysuru on Monday.

According to the latest prediction from the MeT department, light to moderate rains (2.5 mm to 64.4 mm) are very likely in parts of coastal Karnataka, North Interior Karnataka and South Interior Kar nataka, including Bengaluru, on May 9, 10 and 11. IMD said rains with thunderstorms and lightning were very likely in Bengaluru’s Rural and Urban districts in the aforesaid days.