Heavy rains in Bengaluru: 2 labourers die, houses inundated
Showers continue in Kerala, Red alert in 4 districts
BENGALURU: Two labourers died while many houses were flooded due to heavy downpour in the city, authorities said.
The Meteorological department on Wednesday forecast more rains in the city for the next 24 hours.
Two labourers — Dev Vrat from Bihar and Ankit Kumar from Uttar Pradesh — drowned after the water level inside a pipeline they were laying at Ullal here increased suddenly due to heavy rains on Tuesday evening, police said.
Another labourer Trilok was lucky as he came out of the Cauvery water pipeline in time as the water level quickly rose.
Police have arrested the contractor for his alleged negligence while an inquiry is on to find out the role of the site engineer. The heavy rain wreaked havoc in the city as water gushed into houses in many low-lying areas.
According to the weather department, many areas received 50 mm to 150 mm of rain in the last 24 hours.
Horamavu, Yelahanka, Vidyapeetha, Rajmahal, Nagapura, Sampangiramnagar, Vidyaranyapura, Banaswadi, Jakkur and Singasandra were among the worst-hit.
While Horamavu reported 155 mm rainfall, Yelahanka and Vidyapeetha received 129 mm and 127 mm rains, respectively, the department said.
Many trees were uprooted, Bengaluru civic agency said.
Scores of vehicles were submerged in the basements of some apartments in Horamavu, HSR Layout, Rajajinagar, Basaveshwaranagar and Neelasandra.
There was waterlogging in many parts of the city, which also witnessed traffic snarls due to the torrential rainfall.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday visited some of the rain-hit areas in the city.
Meanwhile, as heavy rains continued to lash several parts of Kerala, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday afternoon issued a Red alert in four districts of the state for the day, indicating extremely heavy rainfall.
The Red alert was issued in the northern Kerala districts of Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod.
In the morning, IMD issued an Orange alert for 7 districts, including the four as well as Thrissur, Palakkad and Malappuram.
The Orange alert in Thrissur, Palakkad and Malappuram continues to be in effect. An Orange alert was also issued by IMD in Kannur and Kasaragod for Thursday.
Various weather forecasting centres in the country have predicted isolated heavy rains across the state on Wednesday.
The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority has predicted widespread rain in the state for the next five days with chances of isolated thunder, lightning and strong winds due to the cyclonic circulation in and around Kerala as well as a low-pressure trough from north Kerala to the Vidarbha region.