North-east monsoon arrives with a bang

North-east monsoon arrives with a bang
The Times of India

Bangalore: It’s raining like there’s no tomorrow. Be forewarned, this rain will continue till the month-end. On Thursday, the city experienced what it used to many years ago — continuous heavy drizzle.

The north-east monsoon arrived with a bang on Wednesday. Bringing with it the attendant heavy and often unpredictable rain.

For starters, these last 13 days have clocked a total rainfall of 220.8 mm, higher than the cumulative rainfall of the previous months. Reason — the incessant, ceaseless rain is a causal factor of low pressure areas over the south western bay of Tamil Nadu’s coast.

And the north-east monsoon which set in on October 12, is here to stay.

Consequently, the city received continuous showers — it rained all of Wednesday night and continued till late Thursday afternoon. Up to 8.30 am on Thursday morning, Bangalore clocked in 11.5 mm.

The Met Department reiterated that the rain is likely to continue all month, with an emphasis on the next two days.

Flow of problems: Five trees were uprooted at different parts of the city and the fire personnel were pressed into service to remove them. Luckily for commuters, Thursday being a holiday, traffic was not as chaotic as it would have been on any other day. However, it was a nightmarish drive near sites of civic work — like the Anand Rao Circle, Nehrunagar circle, near Jayadeva flyover though work is over on the last.

Even rough estimates would put the number of potholes at 1000 on the stretch of Anand Rao circle which connects Race Course Road. Commuters — two, three and four-wheelers — had a harrowing time figuring out what lay ahead.

House collapses: An old house collapsed under the duress of continuous rain at SJP Road. However, there were no causalities reported. Also, the police did not have more details about the incident.

Near Bommanahalli, in the thick of a storm for the last few months over pathetic infrastructure, saw a status quo. CMC Bommanahalli commissioner Uday Shankar said that if houses which were built on drains were removed, it would help in flow of water. But will that be done after the rains?

WET, WET, WET
June — 107.8 mm July — 163.0 mm August — 229.3 mm September — 181.0 mm October (up to 13) — 220.8 mm