Bengaluru becomes Venice amid rains: 5 dead in building collapse. Updates

On Monday, Bengaluru recorded the highest daily rainfall in 27 years. As many as 100 lakes are overflowing and roads are flooded due to continuous downpour

Five people died while several are still feared trapped in the building in Bengaluru, which collapsed on Tuesday. The under-construction building, located in the Horamavu Agara area in the eastern part of Bengaluru, collapsed amid heavy rainfall in the city for the past three days.

Teams from the fire and emergency department, National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force are working to rescue others. On Monday, Bengaluru recorded the highest daily rainfall in 27 years. The India Meteorological Department’s GKVK station in north logged 186.2 millimetre rainfall on Monday, surpassing the past record (178.9 mm) of 1997.

What is rain situation in Bengaluru:

1) Due to the continuous downpour, the state government announced closure of schools and advised work-from-home policy for all IT-BT companies in Bengaluru for Wednesday.

2) As many as 100 lakes are overflowing in the city due to the rains, leading to flooding of roads and chaos in the streets. Commuters are facing massive inconvenience.

3) On the building collapse incident, deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said that strict action will be taken against the owner and contractor, citing certain alleged illegal activities at the site.

4) About 1,500 houses were impacted due to the flooding situation. Criticising the Siddaramaiah government, Union Minister Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy said the Congress had turned Bengaluru into Venice instead of Singapore as they promised

5) The Opposition also raked the issue of the huge crop loss in various parts of Karnataka.
 

6) While colleges were not instructed to be closed, the government had advised against holding any classes in dilapidated and weak buildings to avoid accidents.
 

7) Moderate to heavy rainfall is likely to persist in many areas today as well. For Thursday, the weather body predicts scattered rainfall, while parts of north interior Karnataka will likely get respite from continuous downpour on Friday.