Bengaluru rain: Elderly man, 12-year-old boy electrocuted in flooded apartment
Bengaluru’s heaviest spell of rain this year claimed three lives in a single day. Two of the deaths were reported from BTM Layout on Monday evening, where a 12-year-old boy and a 63-year-old man were electrocuted while trying to clear waterlogging in their apartment complex. Earlier, a 35-year-old woman housekeeper died in Whitefield after a compound wall collapsed following heavy rains.
The city witnessed over six hours of heavy rain on the intervening nights of Sunday and Monday. The intense rainfall led to severe waterlogging, inundating several roads, basements and low-lying areas across the city.
The incident occurred at an apartment around 6 PM on Monday. The victims were identified as Manmohan Kamath (63), a resident of the building, and Dinesh (12), the son of Bharat, a Nepali national employed as a worker at the apartment complex. Both victims were electrocuted while attempting to drain out the stagnant rainwater using an electric motor.
“Kamath had brought a motor from outside and connected it to a power source to pump out water from the cellar. During this process, he suffered an electric shock due to a short circuit and died,” said Sarah Fathima, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South East Division. “Dinesh, who was helping him, also suffered an electric shock and died on the spot,” she added.
Both bodies have been sent to St John’s Hospital for postmortem examination.
On Monday night, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the government had identified 210 flood-prone areas in the city. “Of these, we have resolved flooding issues in 166 areas – about 70%. Work is ongoing in 24 more locations, and the remaining 20 will be taken up soon,” he added.
He said that the government had built 197 km of stormwater drains and allocated Rs 2,000 crore for the purpose. “Traffic police have flagged 132 spots that get flooded during heavy rains. Of these, 82 have been fixed while 41 are pending,” Shivakumar said.
Karnataka Deputy CM said that the quantum of rainfall in areas like Silk Board Junction, Hebbal, and Yelahanka had been especially high. “Underpass works are ongoing in a few of these areas and they have been affected. We will coordinate with relevant departments to address this,” he said.
“Rain is controlled by nature. We are focusing on what we can control- identifying and fixing flood-prone zones and helping citizens cope,” he added.
