Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday met the family members of 23-year-old woman Bhanurekha, who died after drowning in a waterlogged underpass in KR Circle area in Bengaluru. Siddaramaiah met Bhanurekha’s family at Martha’s hospital and expressed condolences. Heavy rain and hailstorm lashed Bengaluru on Sunday, leading to severe water-logging in several parts of the city.
The rain disrupted normal activities for residents in various parts of the city. Trees were uprooted in several areas and severe water-logging was observed at an underpass in KR Circle area. Earlier, several people trapped in the underpass were safely rescued and taken to the hospital.
An old building in Bengaluru’s Vidyaranyapura collapsed following heavy rains in the city on Sunday, officials said. Officials said no casualties were reported.
Monsoon onset over Kerala is likely to be delayed this year, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, predicting its arrival on June 4, four days after the normal date prediction of June 1.
“The southwest monsoon generally sets over Kerala on June 1 with a standard deviation of about 7 days. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has been issuing operational forecasts for the monsoon onset date over Kerala since 2005. An indigenously developed state-of-the-art statistical model with a model error of +- 4 days is used, the IMD said.
Last year, the monsoon over Kerala arrived on May 29, two days after the IMD’s prediction of May 27. The operational forecasts of monsoon onset date over Kerala during the last 18 years (2005–2022) proved correct except in 2015. , IMD said.
“The six predictors of monsoon onset used in the model are: i) minimum temperature over northwest India ii) pre-monsoon rainfall peak over the South Peninsula iii) outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) over the South China Sea (iv) lower tropospheric area wind over Southeast Indian Ocean (v) sea level pressure over subtropical NW Pacific Ocean (vi) upper tropospheric zonal wind over Northeast Indian Ocean,” the IMD release said.
The southwest monsoon over the Indian mainland is marked by the onset of the monsoon over Kerala and is an important indicator of the transition from a hot and dry season to a rainy season.