All it took was a couple of hours of heavy rain

All it took was a couple of hours of heavy rain

Bangalore Bureau
Tree kills auto driver; downpour hits traffic, floods roads
— PHOTO: V. SREENIVASA MURTHY

TRAGEDY STRIKES:A huge silver oak came crashing down on an autorickshaw on Alexander Road in Shanthinagar, killing its driver, Srinivas, instantaneously on Saturday.
BANGALORE: Just over two hours of rain on Saturday afternoon cost a man his life, slowed traffic and flooded homes in the city.

Life was thrown out of gear when it started pouring at around 1.45 p.m. Crashing branches and trees damaged vehicles, but tragedy struck an unsuspecting autorikshaw driver, M. Srinivas (34) of Srirampura when he was crushed to death in his vehicle by a falling silver oak on Alexander Road in Shanthinagar. It took the Fire and Emergency Services personnel more than half an hour to get the tree out of the way and clear the road for traffic to resume.

More poles fall

Four vehicles — including three cars — were damaged on Kasturba Road Cross, near the British Library, when a huge tree fell on power lines, bringing down a number of electricity poles onto the vehicles. Trees were also uprooted on Museum Road and near Shoolay Circle.

Motorists struggled to negotiate flooded roads in east Bangalore in G.M. Palya and on Suranjan Das Road connecting Old Madras Road and Old Airport Road.

Roads at Basaveshwara Circle, Hudson Circle, Ramamurthynagar, HRBR, OMBR, Banaswadi, Hennur, Lingarajapuram, K.H. Road and Ambedkar Veedhi were flooded.

Motorists and pedestrians had a tough time near the Namma Metro work sites on Old Madras Road, R.V. Road, K.R. Road, South End, Lakshman Rau Avenue and Rajajinagar. Several vehicles broke down and two-wheelers spluttered to a halt as water entered the vehicles.

Pedestrians also had a tough time walking on footpaths, many of which remained dug up and unpaved.

Rainwater gushed into homes in Kengeri, Banshankari, Basavanagar, Kodihalli, Neelasandra, Domlur, Mahadevpura, Padmanabhanagar and Nagarabhavi. Clogged drains led to water overflowing onto the road in K.R. Puram. According to Met Department officials, Bangalore received 40.88 mm and the airport 25.8 mm rainfall at 8.30 p.m. on Saturday.