Yellow alert in Bengaluru for two days

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru

There are wet days ahead for Bengalureans with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issuing a yellow alert, warning of heavy rain in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts on Monday and Tuesday. The downpour in the past few days has already killed two people-one of them was an elderly woman who was crushed to death by a collapsing compound wall and the other was a man who was reportedly washed away in a Storm Water Drain (SWD) while trying to save his motorcycle.

Meanwhile, personnel from the State and National Disaster Rescue Force fished out the body of the man who was washed away during the incessant rains on Friday in the Rajakaluve in KR Puram. Mithun, 24, a native of Shivamogga, was a civil engineer and was washed away in a drain beside his house

Many parts of the city received heavy rainfall late Sunday evening, as people complained of waterlogging and property damage. Haralur, HSR Layout and Bellandur were the worst affected.

Farrah, who was travelling from her relative’s house to board a bus near Anand Rao Circle said that she kept trying but couldn’t get a cab on the Ola or Uber app for about three hours. She had to travel by a private vehicle of a relative. She said that parts of the stretch from Harlur to Majestic saw heavy waterlogging and it was difficult for vehicles, especially two-wheelers, to navigate.

“There were heavy rains, waterlogging in many areas and we saw a tree fall on a car,” she said. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials said they had not received many complaints, but may do so tomorrow. However one official conceded that a tree had fallen near Adugodi

Yellow alert issued

Meanwhile, India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert, warning of heavy rain for Bengaluru urban and rural areas on Monday and Tuesday. The forecast comes in the backdrop of immense rain damage caused by torrential downpour the past few days in Bengaluru, in which two people died. The heavy rainfall is seen as a result of the onset of monsoon.

As many as 17 other districts all over the state have also been issued yellow alerts for Monday, 11 of which have also been issued the same warning for Tuesday as well. They include Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Belagavi, Bidar, Vijayapura, Chamarajanagar, Chikkaballapura, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Kodagu, Kolar, Mandya, Mysuru, Ramanagara, Shivamogga and Tumakuru. IMD defines yellow alert as (heavy) rainfall between 64.5 to 115.5 mm. Orange alert (very heavy rainfall) refers to 115.6 to 204.4 mm. Red alert (extremely heavy rainfall) is 204.5 mm of rain and above.

IMD Scientist A Prasad said that districts close to the western ghats would witness a wet spell. “Tomorrow (Monday), some districts in proximity to the western ghats, especially Bengaluru, Kolar, Mysuru, Ramanagara districts, we may see heavy rainfall. In fact, the same may happen the next two days. That is to say, the yellow alert applies for the next day (Tuesday) as well,” he said.

“If you look at Bengaluru in particular, we may see light to moderate rain for the next five days (until Thursday). The next two days (until Tuesday), we may see heavy rain. As far as Bengaluru city is concerned, from third of this month until today (Sunday), we have seen an average of 67 mm of rain.