Bengaluru: Heavy rains, accompanied by gusty winds, on Saturday night brought down over 100 trees at various parts of the city, crushing two-wheelers and cars parked under them. The thundershowers threw normal life out of gear and affected traffic all over the city. Power supply too was hit badly as trees fell on power lines and transformers.
Shanthakumar
Body not yet traced
Search operations continued on Sunday for Shanthakumar, a labourer, who was feared washed away. A resident of Mandya, he was supervising the construction of a stormwater drain at Kurubarahalli when the incident occurred.
The rescue operation began at Saturday midnight, but the body had not been found till late on Sunday night. Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George said that that 50 rescue personnel and 30 BBMP workers, with the help of six earthmovers, were scouring the stormwater drain to recover the body.
He said Mayor G. Padmavathi and BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad are monitoring the operations. Compensation will be given to the family of the deceased, but the focus now is to recover the body, he said.
Mr P.L. Ramakrishna, regional officer, Fire and Emergency Services (West zone), said that rescue work using machines had stopped and manual operations had begun to find the body.
BBMP control room flooded with calls
Till Sunday evening, the BBMP control room had recorded over 200 complaints. 117 complaints were of tree fall and 80 of water logging, said BBMP workers manning the control room.
Over 70 complaints were from the BBMP west zone, 16 from the east, four from Dasarahalli, seven from Rajarajeshwari Nagar, eight from Yelahanka and 12 from South. There were no complaints from Bommanahalli and Mahadevpura zones. Because of heavy rains and strong winds, over 20 parakeets were reported dead near Orion Mall on Dr Rajkumar Road.
Sleepless night for people
Stormwater drain overflowed and flooded houses nearby in Nandini Layout, Kempegowda Layout, Malleswaram, Vayalikaval, Basavanagudi, Mahalakshmi Layout, Basaveshwara Nagar, Byatarayanapura and Yeshwanthpur.
City plunges into darkness
Nearly half of the city plunged into darkness as trees fell on electric poles and transformer lines, affecting power supply. Bescom’s helpline 1912 again turned dead. Angry citizens vented their anger on social media sites. Bescom maintained that it will revamp the helpline in association with the Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd.
