Bengaluru floods: Toll rises to 3 as child, elderly man electrocuted; more rains expected

In the wake of relentless pre-monsoon rain lashing Bengaluru for the past two days since Sunday (May 18), two more persons have died, including a 12-year-old boy, at BTM layout in Bengaluru.

A 12-year-old boy and a 63-year-old man were electrocuted while trying to clear the waterlogging in their apartment complex. Earlier, a 35-year-old woman housekeeper died in Whitefield after a compound wall collapsed following heavy rains.

This takes the death toll in the Bengaluru rains to three so far. Meanwhile, pre-monsoon rains continue to lash the city and the state on Tuesday (May 20). The city received 130 mm of rainfall from Sunday evening till dawn on Monday.

The heavy rainfall led to severe waterlogging, inundating several roads, basements and low-lying areas across the city. It brought normal life to a standstill, flooding 500 homes, brought more than 20 lakes close to overflowing, turned several upscale streets into waterways and created the city's infamous kilometre-long traffic jams.

According to the IMD's forecast, the city is expected to receive rainfall till May 23. The weather department has also issued a yellow alert for Karnataka's capital city till May 22.

Two dead from electrocution

Two residents from the BTM layout lost their lives to electrocution after trying to clear debris and manage waterlogging in their community at the residential complex. The victims have been identified as 63-year-old Manmohan Kamath, a resident of Madhuvan Apartments in NS Palya, BTM Layout 2nd Stage, and 12-year-old Dinesh, the son of a Nepalese worker employed at the same complex.

According to police officials, Kamath was attempting to drain rainwater that had accumulated in the apartment’s basement around 6.15 pm. He reportedly brought in a motor pump and connected it to a power socket.

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While trying to operate the equipment, a suspected short circuit occurred, resulting in a fatal electric shock. While Kamath was killed, Dinesh, who was playing nearby, also came into contact with the electrified water and was electrocuted.

Other residents of the apartment quickly intervened, managing to disconnect the motor and pull both individuals from the water. They were rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors pronounced them dead on arrival.

Police have initiated Unnatural Death Reports (UDRs) for both cases and are continuing their investigation into the circumstances surrounding the accident.

Woman dead due to wall collapse

Earlier on Monday (May 19), a separate rain-related tragedy claimed the life of a 35-year-old woman in Bengaluru’s Mahadevapura area. The victim, identified as Shashikala, was a housekeeping employee at IZMO Ltd., a software company located in the area.

According to police, the incident occurred around 7 am when a compound wall on the company’s premises allegedly collapsed, reportedly weakened by intense overnight rainfall. Shashikala was caught under the falling structure and died on the spot.

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A senior officer confirmed that a case has been registered and an investigation is ongoing. Authorities are also examining whether the wall collapse was solely due to the rain or if additional structural issues contributed to the incident.

Yellow and Orange alerts

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) data, Bengaluru city received 105.5 mm of rainfall during the 24 hour period ending 8.30 am on May 19.

The last time the city has witnessed such heavy rains was on May 18, 2022. Incidentally, the all-time record for May stands at 153.9 mm, which was set on May 6, 1909.

A yellow alert has been issued throughout many parts of Karnataka and Bengaluru for the week.

The affected districts include Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru rural, Kolar, Chikkaballapura, Tumakuru, Mandya, Mysuru, Hassan, Kodagu, Belagai, Bidar, Raichur, Yadgir, Davanagare, Chitradurga.

Most affected

In Bengaluru, Horamavu and Sri Sai Layout were the worst affected, with some news reports saying that the residents have blamed clogged drains for the waterlogging and the chaos on the roads. They claimed that despite repeated complaints to the authorities, they were not cleaned, leading to severe blockage.

Many parts of the city, including Yelahanka, Hennur, Sangasandra, Shivajinagar, Kasturi Nagar, Banaswadi, BTM layout, Munnekollal and Matthikere, suffered power cuts as poles fell on the road and transmission cables malfunctioned.

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Over 19 trees were uprooted across the city during the rainfall, leading to significant disruption and severe logjams.

Several houses flooded

Damage to the power infrastructure left many homes in the dark. Waterlogging was so severe that civic agencies had to deploy earthmovers to clear drains and boats to evacuate citizens from flooded areas. People travelling on tractors was a common sight in many low-lying areas.

For instance, in Mahadevapura, one of the worst-affected areas, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) deployed 6 tractors, two earthmovers and three fire engines to evacuate people and pump out water.

Floodwaters had entered houses in many residential areas, such as Wilson Garden, Nandagokula Layout in Nagavara, HBR Layout, Hennur, ST Bed Layout of Koramangala, and many more. Social networking sites were filled with pictures and videos of people bailing out water manually with mugs and buckets.

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In a unique gesture, BBMP used inflatable boats on main intersections to aid office workers and frontline staff in navigating flooded roads. At the perennially congested Silk Board Junction, knee-deep water halted vehicular movement, creating hours-long snarls.

On May 18, BBMP Chief Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao visited Sri Sai Layout, issuing a slew of directions and orders to ease the problem and find a permanent fix.

'Crores invested, result zero'

Opposition in Karnataka on Monday (May 19) blamed the ruling Congress government for letting rains overwhelm the city, claiming that the result during floods and heavy rains remain zero despite crores invested into infrastructure.

Former Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka and MLA of Malleswaram, CN Ashwath Narayan criticised Shivakumar, saying, "Crores spent. Zero results." Taking to 'X' he said: "Last night's rains didn't expose Bengaluru's infrastructure — they exposed @DKShivakumar's track record of the last two years of doing nothing."

Deputy CM responds

Following this criticism, DK Shivakumar provided his update on the flood mitigation efforts undertaken by the BBMP.

“We had identified 210 flood-prone areas in the city. Since taking charge as Bengaluru Development Minister, we have resolved issues in 166 of those locations. Work is in progress in 24 areas, and action will soon begin in the remaining 20,” Shivakumar said, adding that the city has constructed 197 km of stormwater drains as part of the flood prevention measures.

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The Deputy Chief Minister also noted that traffic police had flagged 132 trouble spots that typically flood during heavy rains.

“We’ve fixed 82 of these. Work on the remaining 41 spots is pending,” he said, adding that the government has allocated ₹2,000 crore for stormwater drain infrastructure.

Responding to criticism from the Opposition that Bengaluru has turned into “Water Bengaluru,” Shivakumar challenged detractors to engage in a constructive dialogue. “They can’t just hit and run. Let them bring their list of grievances—we’re ready to show the progress we’ve made in resolving issues across the city,” he said.

'Unexpected heavy rainfall'

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah blamed unexpected, heavy rainfall for floods in many parts of Bengaluru on Monday.

Though he announced initially that he would visit rain-affected areas in the evening and hear out grievances of the people, he called off the plan, saying it would inconvenience the already affected people.

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He justified it by saying he would not be able to see much of the rain damage in the evening. He instead headed to the Integrated Command and Control Centre at the BBMP head office to review the rain damage.

From there, he held a virtual meeting with BBMP zonal officials and got updates on the prevailing situation. He said he will devote entire Wednesday to inspect the city and review its problems after the Sadhana Samavesha at Hospete on Tuesday.

CM Siddaramaiah continued by saying, “We received an unexpected rainfall of 104 mm in the last 24 hours. Many areas in Bengaluru were affected.” He stressed that he had been instructing BBMP officials about encroachments, accumulation of silt and shallow depth of stormwater drains.

BBMP officials have been instructed to take up remodelling and desilting of clogged drains, he added.

He said, “Bengaluru has 859.90 km of SWDs and we have built retaining walls for 491 km of the drains. Construction is underway for 195 km. We have taken a loan from the World Bank to remodel 173 km of SWDs. The work is in progress.”

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He was confident that after all the drains are remodelled, flooding can be prevented in the city.

A total of 210 low-lying areas have been identified and categorised as ‘sensitive’ and ‘hyper-sensitive’ to flooding, he added.