Bengaluru rains: Trees uprooted, traffic affected; netizens share videos

In a huge relief from the summer heat, rain lashed parts of Karnataka including Bengaluru on Monday evening (May 6) with Kolar and Anekal witnessing heavy gusty winds and hailstorms.

Karnataka State Natural Disaster Centre (KSNDC) had issued a yellow alert for thunderstorms. According to KSNDC, Bengaluru Rural and Urban, Chamarajanagara, Chikkaballapura, Kolar, Mandya, Mysuru, Ramanagara and Tumakuru are the districts that have been issued yellow alerts for thunderstorms.

Meanwhile, netizens started posting videos of the thunderstorm in and around Bengaluru on various social media platforms while the Bengaluru Traffic Police shared images of trees uprooted in some parts of the city. There was slow-moving traffic due to waterlogging.

On X (formerly Twitter), #Bengalururains and #Bangalorerains hashtags were trending on Monday evening.

In a post on X, Bengaluru Traffic Police said, "Today, due to rain, we had heavy water logging at 33 locations and tree fall at 16 locations. This has caused considerable traffic congestion at several places. BTP is working round the clock to ensure smooth traffic movement. Temporary traffic diversions are in place. Public are requested to cooperate (sic)."

Areas that were going through a long dry spell, are also receiving heavy to moderate rainfall, accompanied by thunderstorms. Some parts of Bengaluru, like TC Palya, Electronic City, Bommasandra, Chandapura, and parts of Anekal taluk witnessed intense rains with hail storms.

Videos of rain in Gottigere, Aneka, Jigani and TC Palya areas are being circulated online.

Earlier, Karnataka Weather, an X page run by a group of weather enthusiasts, had predicted that summer thunderstorms will be back with good intensity from May 7, resulting in the decrease of temperatures back to normal in Bengaluru.

Meanwhile, it continues to boil in the northern part of Karnataka where 14 constituencies go to poll. Raichur, one of the polling districts, experienced 47 degrees, the highest temperature recorded on May 6 in the last seven years, stated KSNDC.

KSNDMC has also issued guidelines for lightning -- a woman in Hosakote taluk had been struck dead by lightning on May 3.

Unplug all electric gadgets, don’t stand under trees or windows and if caught in an open area, huddle in the ground, advised a series of video messages in Kannada released by KSNDMC as soon as the thunderstorms started.

The disaster management centre also said, post May 8, maximum temperatures are likely to come down by 2 to 3 degree Celsius across Karnataka.

(With agency inputs)