The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Heavy rain disrupts life in city

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 24, 2007
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Heavy rain disrupts life in city

Staff Reporter

Miraculous escape for eight persons on Cunningham Road

NARROW ESCAPE: The car which was damaged when a tree crashed on it on Cunningham Road, in Bangalore on Wednesday. — Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

BANGALORE: Heavy rain lashed the city on Wednesday. Rains and strong winds felled several trees, including a large Gulmohar tree on Cunningham Road damaging two cars and an autorickshaw.

Passengers of the two vehicles had a miraculous escape. The autorikshaw overturned and six members of a family, including two children, were trapped in it before passersby rescued them.

Praveena was sitting in the Tata Indica car along with her child in the back seat, waiting for her husband when a branch of the Gulmohar tree crashed on the windshield. "We got out immediately and were lucky to have been sitting behind," she said. Her husband Venkatesh was seen calling the insurance company as soon as the incident took place. Eyewitnesses told The Hindu that the Gulhomar tree had been pruned haphazardly and could not withstand strong wind.

Traffic was disrupted on Cunningham Road for over half an hour before the personnel from the Fire and Emergency Services personnel and Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike removed the branches to restore normality.

There were reports of tree fall in Jayanagar, Kumaraswamy Layout, Allalasandra in Yelahanka, Jeevan Bhima Nagar, HSR Layout, Padmanabhanagar and Cambridge Layout.

Several areas in Bangalore south experienced power shutdown for some time.

People going to the airport got caught in the torrential rain. Sumanth Bellur, a software engineer, said: "I was travelling back from my office in Koramangala. It started raining so I took a detour and went to the nearby snooker parlour and waited the rain out."

On Wednesday, it rained 34 mm near the airport but a mere 5.7 mm in the city, according to the Meteorological Department. The Met Department said the city was likely to receive more showers over the weekend.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka