Explained: Why Karnataka is battling torrential rain as North suffers from harsh heatwave

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While most parts of north India are reeling from heatwave conditions, Karnataka in the south has been experiencing heavy rain and flooding, causing temperatures to fall to surprising lows.

The state has been witnessing heavy rains since last week and the heavy downpour has left residents drenched and desperate. Normal life in the state has been thrown out of gear, as heavy rain continued to wreak havoc in various parts of Karnataka, including Bengaluru for the third day on Thursday.

News agency PTI reported that families living in low-lying areas struggled to remove rain water that gushed into their houses. There was waterlogging in many parts of Bengaluru. Several roads in the city were damaged. The city witnessed traffic snarls at many places.

Earlier, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had announced a compensation of Rs 25,000 to families living in houses that were flooded.

Let's dig into why the state is seeing such torrential rain in May and its impact on the residents.

Why so much rain?

Karnataka received torrential rain on 12-13 May, leading to Bengaluru recording its coldest day in the month of May in 50 years as the maximum temperature plunged to 23 degrees Celsius.

Many weather experts predicted that the remnants of Cyclone Asani were the reason for the heavy rain in the state.

At the time, the drastic temperature-drop was partly attributed to the work of weather systems, including a low pressure area forming in the Bay of Bengal coastal area.

Dr Raghu Murtugudde, an earth system scientist who teaches at the University of Maryland, was quoted as telling The Quint that the unusual weather events were partly due to the La Niña, a weather pattern that occurs in the Pacific Ocean every few years.

As the state continued its wet spell, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) sounded orange and red alerts (heavy to very heavy rainfall) in all districts of coastal Karnataka on Wednesday and Thursday.

The weatherman said that the rains are a result of moisture-laden strong westerly winds in the Arabian Sea and a few other systems.

"The strong westerlies are blowing towards the coasts of Kerala and Karnataka at 1.5 km above sea level. There is also an upper air cyclonic circulation at 3.6-5.8 km above sea level in Lakshadweep, which is prevailing over Tamil Nadu and its neighbourhood. There is a north-south trough extending 900 metres above mean sea level from Madhya Pradesh to Tamil Nadu across interior Karnataka. All of this will result in heavy rainfall in the State for the next few days,” a scientist at IMD Bengaluru was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

Motorists make their way through a waterlogged road after a rain shower in Bangalore on 18 May. AFP

Impact of the rain

Incessant rain has wreaked havoc in the state and also caused the mercury levels to plunge.

On Thursday, maximum temperature was 22.4 degrees Celsius in Bengaluru, while the minimum temperature dropped to 21.5 degrees Celsius.

In view of the pounding rains in Dakshina Kannada district, a holiday was declared to all government, aided, unaided primary and high schools. Udupi deputy commissioner M Kurma Rao also instructed schools to take decisions on holiday as heavy rains are continuing in the twin coastal districts.

A Deccan Herald report stated that nine people have died in the heavy downpour in the state, with the state administration deploying National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams to prepare for more showers.

Moreover, 204 hectares of agricultural and 431 hectares of horticultural crops have been damaged due to rains. As many as 23 houses have suffered complete damages.

Reports say that the worst hit areas were parts of RR Nagar, Nayandahalli, Horamavu, Vadrapalya, KR Puram, Mahadevapura, Indiranagar, Hosakerehalli, Yelahanka, Govindarajanagar, Mahalakshmi Layout, Dasarahalli, HSR Layout, Seshadripuram and HBR Layout.

The heavy rains have uprooted trees on many arterial roads in Bengaluru, affecting vehicular traffic.

A yellow alert has been issued for Friday for the districts of Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Chamarajanagar, Chikkaballapur, Chikkamagalur, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Hassan, Kodagu, Kolar, Mandya, Mysuru, Ramnagar, Shivamogga and Tumakuru.

The rain has also impacted flights to and fro from Bengaluru. On Wednesday, two Indigo flights, one from Rajahmundry and another from Kolkata coming to Bengaluru, were diverted to the Chennai International Airport.

The heavy rain also led to veteran politician S M Krishna writing to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, expressing concern that frequent rain havoc in the city would hurt ‘Brand Bengaluru’ and drive away investors.

“Rain havoc in Bengaluru which is at the forefront among the fastest growing cities in the world has raised a concern; this has caused a disquiet about the Brand Bengaluru and may send a wrong message for those willing to set up industries and investors willing to invest in the state,” the former Union Minister said in his letter to Bommai, as per a PTI report.

And unfortunately this isn’t the end of the rain woes for people in Karnataka. The IMD has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall for at least three more days.

With inputs from agencies

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