Bengaluru records wettest April in seven years

Bengaluru city has turned around from getting sizzling heats to getting flooded roads and houses in less than a week. Summer showers this year came in the form of relief to some but soon turned deadly, killing one and causing tons of damage to houses and hitting several businesses. A Bengaluru resident flying in from Delhi on Sunday said the city felt like a hill station.

Forecasts said rains are expected even on Tuesday night, after getting light to moderate thundershowers with isolated heavy rains in J P Nagar, Koramangala, and Jayanagar, among others.

The Karnataka capital has touched a new milestone this month, with the Bengaluru Weather Twitter handle tweeting that, “#Bengaluru city #imd observatory has received a total rainfall of 134 mm this month making it the wettest April in 7 years! The average rainfall for April is just 41.5 mm.”

Reports said that the Met department had even sounded an orange alert for the city on Sunday, which supposedly calls for administrators to ‘be prepared’.

The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) dashboard reportedly showed that the Vidyapeetha ward in southern Bengaluru received 35.50 mm of rainfall on Monday, followed by 32 mm in Kengeri, while Jakkur and Vidyaranyapura in northern Bengaluru received 26.50 mm and 24.50 mm, respectively. Meanwhile, Anjanapura and Horamavu received 23.50 mm of rainfall until 9 p.m. on Monday.

The Deccan Herald even reported that the Sultanpet Road, Old Tharagupet, Mamulpet, K R Market, Millers Road in Vasanthnagar, and some roads in Shivajinagar were all flooded and waterlogged on Monday after the evening showers.

The rains reportedly also knocked down several trees, especially at areas like Hudson Circle near the magistrate court, and also at Chamarajpet, Jakkur, Amruthahalli, Malleswaram, the Modi Hospital on West of Chord Road and near Abhinaya Theatre on K G Road. The uprooted trees blocked roads that were already congested due to waterlogging and traffic.

The Bangalore Mirror reported that the past Saturday saw the third highest single-day rainfall record in the last decade for April, with many areas in the receiving rainfall exceeding five centimetres. The record rainfall in April so far is 10.8 cm, reported on April 19, 2001, the report said.

Reports also said that several businesses like roadside shops and street vendors have been hit due to the constant rains. The rains got mixed reactions from netizens, with some celebrating the bloom of nature after the showers, while some wished for it to stop.