It Rained ‘Cats and Dogs’ doing Damages and the Images Say it all!
“A picture/image is worth a thousand words” is an English idiom. It refers to the notion that a complex idea can be conveyed with just a single still image or that an image of a subject conveys its meaning or essence more effectively than a description does. So here we have more images to convey the outcome of the hail and thunderstorm during the wee hours today.
Mangaluru: It was during the early wee hours between 2 am and 3 am, that my dogs started barking, thereby waking me up as to see what was going on. And to my surprise, it was a terrible hail and thunderstorm, that left the trees to sway left to right, including a couple of our tall coconut tree also swaying, which brought shivers to me that they may come crashing down. Luckily the blowing wind stopped, and it started pouring like “Cats and Dogs” for an hour or so. And the next moment the power went off, and it was absolutely dark.
Bringing respite from the scorching heat, heavy rains with the wind lashed the city during the wee hours when everyone was on their bed. The heavy rains coupled with heavy winds and thunderstorms resulted in the knocking down trees in several parts of the city and water logging in low-lying areas. With tree branches falling on power transmission lines, several localities slipped into the dark for a few hours. A huge tree on Museum Road-Bejai came tumbling down on the electric transformer, including Mescom transformer nearby apartment- but luckily no damages were incurred nor injuries. At present, the fallen tree is being chopped down by the workers, and the Mescom crew are at the spot to restore back the power.
At the Kadri Park premises, where the Jackfruit and Mango Mela is supposed to kick off this afternoon- aluminum roof tops of many stalls there have blown off, including cloth surrounding also being torn off. Elsewhere in the city, there were hoardings/banners, police barricades, construction site metal walls etc being knocked down. Water logging could be seen at many low-lying road spots, and motorists had to wade through the collected water. Water was seen collected at many construction sites. Tree branches/limbs were also seen fallen across the city. Although no injuries or heavy damages have been reported, but this treacherous hailstorm did create little damages here and there.
Clogged rains resulted in water logging near Nanthoor junction, Bunder area, near Central Market, Kadri Kambla Road, and other places. The water logging was such that a Maruti Zen was partially submerged in flooding waters at Bejai. As per officials of Mescom, they had received hundreds of calls and many were resolved. “Though no damage was reported to any of our installations, a few feeders witnessed technical glitches along with damage to transformers during the rains. As tree branches fell on power lines, a few localities witnessed power cuts too. But all of them have been attended to,” explained a senior Mescom official, who had come to inspect the fallen tree on the transformer on Museum Road-Bejai.
This kind of rain situation, however, is nothing new and according to regular commuters and motorists in the City, they have faced such situations last year as well after which they were promised that there will be a permanent solution. At some places, water was seen flowing out of the newly constructed drainage. “The same thing happened last year and we had complained to the corporator as well as MCC officials and they had promised that they would make arrangements to repair the storm water drains. However, nothing seems to have happened and we had to face the same situation once again today,” said Charles of Attavar. “The rainwater had accumulated in such a manner only because the storm water drainage is not well-designed. It is lower than the level of the road and that causes all the silt to accommodate, causing blockage,” he said. Charles, who is associated with a local social group, had raised the issue with the MCC and District Administration officials as well but both bodies kept blaming each other. “But now since the road is under MCC, we want a solution that is sustainable,” he said.
With the water flowing into the streets from the drainage from one heavy rain, what would be the circumstances throughout the monsoon season “The MCC only does the surface level cleaning, but what is needed is a permanent solution? All they do is show up on the day such an incident happens and then vanish for the rest of the year. If things were well planned, we would not have to call them when water logging happens,” said Ramesh, of Kankanady.
Rest of the story is revealed through the images here?