Rain damage: Bescom incurs loss of ₹1.18 crore

An electric pole in Bengaluru that was damaged in the rain on Friday. | Photo Credit: special arrangement

The rain, which lashed Bengaluru and its surrounding regions on Friday (May 3) after a long gap of over five months, resulted in a loss of ₹1.18 crore for the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) due to infrastructure damage.

Bescom officials said 305 electric poles, including 33 high-tension poles, 29 low-tension poles, and 11 transformers, were damaged due to severe weather conditions. The cost of repair was estimated at ₹25.63 lakh.

Further, 57 transformers and 18 double poles were also damaged, with an estimated repair cost of ₹86.20 lakh and ₹6.67 lakh, respectively.

“The power supply was restored to the affected areas by 9 p.m. on Friday, thanks to our technical teams’ swift and diligent efforts. Bescom is actively working on implementing preventive measures to avoid such incidents in the future and ensure an uninterrupted power supply for our consumers,” said a press release from the power utility.

The damage left many localities in Bengaluru without power supply for hours on Friday. According to a senior official, the Bescom helpline received as many as 16,500 complaints regarding power cuts. Even on Saturday, power interruptions were reported from areas like HSR Layout, Whitefield, Electronics City, Marathahalli and other parts of East Bengaluru.

Rain likely after May 8 

After two consecutive days of rainfall, no rain was recorded in Bengaluru on Saturday. While the chances of rain remain slim for Sunday, officials of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that there were some chances of rain on Monday and the possibility of good rainfall after May 8. 

“While there might be some light rain on May 6 and 7, we are expecting good rainfall in South Interior Karnataka (SIK) from May 8 onwards. The temperature will also come down by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius after that in SIK, including Bengaluru. In North Interior Karnataka, the temperature will come down after May 10,” said C.S. Patil, director of IMD Bengaluru.

On Saturday, the maximum temperature in Bengaluru city was around 37 degrees Celsius, while the minimum was 23.3 degrees Celsius. At KIA, the maximum was around 37.5 degrees Celsius, and the minimum was around 24 degrees Celsius. The temperature hovered between 36.6 degrees Celsius and 22.6 degrees Celsius at the HAL Airport station.