Bengaluru flooded: Why is it raining so heavily in Karnataka?
As life comes to a halt in Bengaluru due to heavy flooding in residential areas and streets, more rain is incoming. Several areas of the city remain inundated after torrential rains overnight.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted heavy rains in the state on Tuesday as well.
In its daily weather forecast, the IMD has said that fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy falls accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning is very likely over coastal and south interior Karnataka during the next five days.
"There have been heavy rains in Bengaluru, I have spoken to the Commissioner (BBMP) and other officials. I have asked officials to depute two State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) teams to Mahdevapura and Bommanahalli zones in the city that have been worst affected, with boats and other equipment," Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said amid the latest forecast.
Why is it raining so heavily in Karnataka?
Bengaluru city on Monday night received 13 centimeters of rain, the highest in the state, which battered civic amenities. Monsoon activity became vigorous over 16 districts of south interior Karnataka, while it remained weak over the coastal regions of the state comparatively.
The excess rain was due to a shear zone that had developed nearly 4.5-5.8 kilometers above mean sea level that deposited heavy rains in south interior Karnataka, including Bengaluru City. A shear zone is a monsoon weather feature that is an area filled with opposing winds concentrating heavy rain in that zone.
Dr Geeta Agnihotri, head of the Regional Meteorological Centre, Bengaluru, told indiatoday.in that the very heavy rains in Bengaluru city were due to the shear zone that had formed. "It's a normal occurrence during monsoons just as the formation of troughs, circulations, and low-pressure regions that drive monsoonal rains," she said.
While the IMD expects low to moderate rains in the state today, heavy rains are expected to lash the city on Tuesday that could go on for the next few days. The rains are likely due to a north-south trough forming over north interior Karnataka to Comorin and across interior Tamil Nadu at nine kilometers above sea level.
The monsoonal trough is a low-pressure area, which is a semi-permanent feature of the monsoon circulation. Southward migration of the trough results in an active/vigorous monsoon over major parts of India.
"In contrast, the northward migration of this trough leads to a break in monsoon conditions over a major part of India and heavy rains along the foothills of the Himalayas and sometimes floods in the Brahmaputra river," IMD has said.
Meanwhile, "a cyclonic circulation also lies over the Comorin area and adjoining the Maldives at lower tropospheric levels," Dr Geeta Agnihotri said.
More rains are expected to worsen the situation in the state and especially in Bengaluru, which has been marred by flooded drains, waterlogged streets, and submerged residential areas.
