Bengaluru: Rain showers pain, traffic jams

Bengaluru: Heavy, pre-monsoon rain, which was accompanied by strong winds, gridlocked the city as office-goers crawled through slow-moving traffic on Wednesday evening.

In many parts of the city, commuters were stuck in traffic jams for over three hours as flooded streets and collapsed trees blocked roads. The Met department recorded 13.5 mm rainfall. Many areas went without power as transformers went bust and falling trees and branches snapped power lines.

Traffic jams were reported from KR Circle towards Corporation circle, Town Hall junction from Market Circle, Mahadevapura junction towards K.R Puram, Police Thimmaiah Junction towards Basaweshwara circle, India Garage junction towards D'Souza circle and Domlur towards Ejipura junction.     

13.5 mm rain, commuters stuck in jam for 4 hours
Bommanahalli and Mahadevapura zones bore the brunt of rain fury as nine trees got uprooted till 8.30 pm. Trees also fell in Varthur, Narayana Hrudayalaya Whitefield, Mata Amritanandamayi Ashram, Ullala Railway station, 80 feet road in Kengeri, JP Nagar, 26th Main Vijayanagar, HSR layout and COD office on Palace Road. A tree collapsed on Koramangala 100 Feet Road from BDA Junction towards Sony signal. The tree fell on a BMTC bus and caused a traffic jam. The police department had tough time controlling the traffic.  One electric pole in Kengeri and three in Indiranagar crashed. Hebbal, Koramangala, R.R. Nagar, Jayanagar, Indiranagar, Peenya and Rajajinagar went without power. 473 complaints were reported in Bengaluru Urban and 68 from Bengaluru rural.  

Kadubeesanahalli Underpass in Mahadevapura zone and two houses near HDFC in HSR Layout were flooded. Traffic jams were reported from KR Circle towards Corporation circle, Town Hall junction from Market Circle, Mahadevapura junction towards K.R Puram, Police Thimmaiah Junction towards Basaweshwara circle, India Garage junction towards D'Souza circle, Domlur towards Ejipura junction, HAL towards Manipal Hospital junction on Old Airport Road, Kempapura junction towards Hebbal circle, Jalahalli Cross junction towards 8th Mile Junction, Anand Rao Circle towards Seshadri Puram police station junction, Krishna Floor Mill junction from Rajiv Gandhi Circle towards Okalipuram junction.

Due to the showers, no Ola or Uber cabs were available, when commuters desperately tried to book a cab. Either the cab drivers were not interested to drive in the rain, or they were ferrying passengers on their own to escape paying 25 per cent commission to cab aggregators