Bengaluru rains break 115-year-old record, death toll reaches 19

Bengaluru: Death toll went up to nineteen as rains lashed across Bengaluru, breaking a 115-year-old record. Three members of a family died after roof of their house collapsed due to heavy and incessant rain in Gadag district's Gajendragad on Sunday.

Sixteen-year-old Narasamma, who lived with her parents in a makeshift structure, was reportedly washed away in a stormwater drain on Sunday.

The city has recorded nearly 1,620 mm of rainfall this year so far, breaking the record of about 1,600 mm in 2005, said the India Metereological Department .

On Sunday, Chief minister Siddaramaiah told reporters in Mysuru that city drain network has been unable to cope with unprecedented rainfall over the past two months.

Siddaramaiah blamed the previous governments for not fixing the storm water drain network of the city. He further said Rs 800 crore has been sanctioned for the development of 350km of drains where the problem is acute.

Several residents of Kendriya Vihar were forced to stay indoors for the past five days after water from Yelahanka lake flooded into the apartment complex home to nealry 600 families.

The IMD has predicted mostly cloudy skies in and around Bengaluru with a spell or two of heavy rains in some areas in the next 48 hours.

The Chief Minister instructed Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George, local MLAs and the city`s municipal corporation to fill all 16,000 potholes dotting Bangalore`s roads within 15 days.

The torrential rains over the past two months have made 2017 the wettest year for Bengaluru.Torrential rains have also lashed parts of Hyderabad, Mysuru and nearby areas.