Overnight rain triggers Bengaluru floods, building collapse leaves residents trapped

Parts of India’s tech capital Bengaluru were flooded on Tuesday after heavy overnight rain, and a number of people were feared trapped after a building under construction collapsed due to the downpour.

Indian weather officials expect heavy rain over the next few days in the southern states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu as what they called an “upper air cyclonic circulation” lay off the coast.

Bengaluru, once known as India’s garden city, has been suffering under various issues from gridlocked traffic to poor civic facilities.

Rapid urbanisation and the encroachment of the city’s lakes have blocked connecting canals, limiting Bengaluru’s capacity to absorb and siphon off water.

On Tuesday, residents faced waterlogged roads, fallen trees and many cars floating in water after a downpour overnight that surpassed records for the highest rain in 24 hours in the past couple of decades.

Local authorities said that 241 mm of rainfall was recorded in the past week, more than double the normal for the period.

Television visuals showed people being rescued in boats and tractors, carrying their belonging as they were taken to safe locations.

At least 15 people were rescued from a building under construction that collapsed after the rain and rescuers are still looking for more, a local police official told Reuters.

The city witnessed its heaviest rain in decades in 2022, when the IT industry was disrupted due to waist-deep water in many neighbourhoods.

The latest round of flooding is in contrast to an acute water shortage earlier this year.