10 trees uprooted as Bengaluru sees thundershowers again

BENGALURU: Night-long thundershowers for the second straight day inflicted severe damage on Bengaluru's civic and power infrastructure. The moderate thunderstorms that lashed the city towards midnight on Friday and continued until the early hours of Saturday not only uprooted more than 10 trees in various localities but also caused widespread disruptions in power supply across the city.

Senior officials of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) revealed to STOI that treefall incidents were reported from Vijaya Bank Colony near Bilekahalli, Malleswaram, 10th Main HSR Layout, 4th Main HBR Layout, near Kanteerava Studios, Saraswathipuram, and Sampangiramanagar areas. "Most of the trees had fallen on power transmission lines and there was not much damage to citizens' properties in any part of the city," a BBMP engineer from East division said.
The thundershowers in the city - due to a low-pressure area over south-interior Tamil Nadu and Konkan coast - ranged from light to moderate in many localities. "Overall, the city witnessed an average of 5.3mm of rain and the areas around HAL airport witnessed 18.1mm rainfall," explained a senior scientist from India Meteorological Department (IMD), Bengaluru. As per data accessed from Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Cell, the highest rainfall at the ward level was recorded at Varthur in Mahadevapura limits, with 35mm of rain in under four hours. IMD officials have issued a forecast of thunderstorms for two more days, until Monday.
"The thundershowers were continuous and heavy in some parts of Mahadevapura and Rajarajeshwari Nagar zones," said an officer.
Following the thundershowers, some of the areas witnessed intense waterlogging and late-night traffic was affected. According to Bengaluru traffic police, the Panathur underpass was flooded because of the overflowing drains and motorists had a tough time wading through the marooned area. The situation was similar at Kadubeesanahalli junction.
With the moderate downpour, several parts of the city plunged into darkness owing to the snapping of power lines or broken electric poles. "We witnessed 116 power outages in the southern and western circles of our operation. We immediately deployed our personnel and cleared fallen trees and branches to restore the power supply," a Bescom engineer said.
However, the Bescom helpline kept receiving complaints about power cuts all through the day from various parts of Bengaluru.