Bengaluru weather: An extreme weather episode consisting of heavy rains and a hailstorm has hit Bengaluru, turning the already dry and hot city into a chaos-ridden place. Although the rains have provided some much-needed respite from the 37°C heat in the tech capital, the storms have led to deaths of at least ten people.
Fatal collapses and electrocutions
Most horrifically, at the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, seven people have died and seven have been injured after a compound wall in the hospital collapsed due to heavy rainfall. According to local sources, the area is very busy, which includes many street vendors and other passersby.
The number of casualties has been increased to 10, according to reports filed on Thursday. Some new deaths include:
Electrocution: A man in Bannerghatta Road was electrocuted to death. Also, a university student named Syed Sufiyan met with a similar fate after he was electrocuted by a live wire while parking his motorcycle.
Structural failure: Manjunath, who happened to be inside the house, died instantaneously as a result of a cement block smashing the roof of his house in the midst of the storm.
Overwhelmed civic infrastructure
Two hours of continuous rain was sufficient for major roads in Richmond Town and Shanthinagar to become flooded. Water accumulated till waist level in many areas and affected even corridors of the Vidhana Soudha, flooding the office of the Opposition Leader of the State Assembly, R. Ashoka.
According to the city’s civic authority, environmental impacts included:
- Uprooting of 87 trees and breaking of 131 branches throughout the city.
- The damage occurred mostly in Malleswaram, Shanthinagar, and Seshadripuram.
Traffic disruptions and chaos
As the rains fell during evening rush hour, they stranded thousands of employees on their way back home. Namma Metro services were also disrupted. Traffic moved like snails on many arterial roads. Fire department services along with traffic police used pumps to deplete inundated roads and clear fallen trees blocking critical junctions through the night.
Loss of culture at ‘the bookworm’
The reading community in the city has started gathering on social media following the damage inflicted upon The Bookworm, an establishment selling books situated on Church Street. An estimated 4,000-5,000 books have been lost due to flooding in the store, according to reports with visuals of books immersed in water being shown. People who love literature have come together and initiated measures to support the store through their book loss.
Government reaction and compensation
The Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has urged the state government to adopt necessary steps in order to avoid similar incidents of wall collapse in future. “I have seen that there are cracks in the compound… the street vendors and others who have been affected should be given compensation,” Kharge observed after visiting the scene. An inquiry is underway regarding improper construction of the wall of the hospital’s old compound.
Bureau Report
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