Bengaluru witnessed a tragic incident on Monday as a 63-year-old man and a 12-year-old boy were electrocuted inside a flooded apartment basement in BTM 2nd Stage following relentless rain that crippled the city.
The elderly man, Manmohan Kamath, was operating an external motor to drain water from the submerged basement of Madhuvan Apartments when he suffered a fatal electric shock due to a short circuit. Dinesh, a 12-year-old boy standing nearby, was also electrocuted.
The incident occurred around 6:15 PM, capping a day of intense rainfall that brought the city to a standstill. Bengaluru recorded around 104 mm of rainfall over the past 24 hours, leading to severe waterlogging, especially in low-lying areas, and widespread traffic snarls.
Visuals from across the city showed streets submerged and infrastructure under stress, a recurring issue during Bengaluru’s monsoon season. In a separate rain-related incident, a 35-year-old woman lost her life after a wall collapsed.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert for Bengaluru and several other parts of Karnataka, forecasting more rain over the next two days. Civic authorities have initiated waterlogging mitigation measures.
Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara noted that the newly formed Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), replacing the BBMP, is actively working to address the crisis. He attributed the primary cause of drainage issues to blocked roads due to the accumulation of leaves, paper, and other litter.