Bengaluru rains: JCB comes to the rescue as roads turn into rivers after overnight deluge | Watch

Bengaluru rains: JCB backhoe loaders came to the rescue on Monday as Bengaluru woke up to rivers instead of roads following relentless overnight rainfall.

Videos on social media showed Panathur Railway Under Bridge, among other areas, completely inundated, with police officers using backhoe loaders to wade through the knee-deep waters. Several parts of the city, including the popular Silk Board junction, Bommanahalli, and HRBR layout, were also waterlogged owing to the heavy downpour.

Bengaluru rains

Karnataka's capital city was battered by an unrelenting downpour through the night of Sunday, 18 May, into the early hours of Monday, 19 May, as the city recorded its heaviest rainfall of the year. For nearly six hours, it rained cats and dogs, turning roads into rivers and causing flooding in several areas.

What began as a typical evening quickly turned into a weather nightmare, with waterlogging reported across multiple areas, stranding vehicles and disrupting daily life. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has since issued a heavy rain alert for the city, urging residents to stay cautious as more showers may be on the horizon.

Woman killed after wall collapses

In East Bengaluru’s Mahadevapura, a 35-year-old woman was killed after a compound wall collapsed on her—an incident officials believe was triggered by the city’s intense weekend rainfall, reported PTI.

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the IT capital's woes during rains were not new, but the government was now working to find a long-term solution.

Bengaluru received about 104 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours, inundating many low-lying areas and leading to traffic pile-ups. This prompted the BJP to launch a scathing attack on the ruling Congress. Former Deputy Chief Minister and MLA of Malleswaram, CN Ashwath Narayan, criticised Shivakumar, saying, "Crores spent. Zero results."

Heavy downpour not common; 150 people evacuated from Sai Layout

A State Natural Disaster Response Force officer told PTI that no one had anticipated such an intense spell of rain in Bengaluru. Weather experts echoed the sentiment, noting that such heavy downpours in May are not common.

The impact was especially severe in Sai Layout, a residential area with around 300 houses. "The area always struggles during rains, but this time, the scale was overwhelming," an official said.

Ground floors were half-submerged, and residents were trapped inside their homes. Emergency teams evacuated nearly 150 people from the flooded neighbourhood.

The last time Bengaluru saw similar rainfall in May was back in 2022, around the very same date. Incidentally, the all-time record for May stands at 153.9 mm, which was set on May 6, 1909, as per PTI.