South India Flood Live Updates: IMD issues 'orange alert' in two districts in Kerala

Bengaluru's rain troubles persisted on Wednesday, leaving commuters facing non-motorable roads due to severe waterlogging. Social media footage showed the alarming conditions, with city streets submerged in rainwater, posing life-threatening hazards.

Karnataka deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar on Wednesday urged residents to take precautions amid continuous rains in the city. He assured that the government is prepared to address the issues arising from the weather conditions.

Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS) released an advisory Tuesday evening, urging IT, BT and private companies to allow their employees to work from home on Wednesday due to heavy rain forecast in Bengaluru.

Tuesday's fits-and-starts rain in Bengaluru brought residents of Yelahanka, Mahadevapura and the city's east zone to their knees as swirling waters flooded nearly 150 houses and several stretches of arterial roads, slowing down traffic movement. Yelahanka was among the worst-hit areas, with more than 118 houses inundated. In Mahadevapura, 20 homes were affected by flooding. The downpour brought down 39 trees and 55 branches — 10 trees were uprooted in Yelahanka and seven in west zone.

Chennai, which woke up on Tuesday after a troubled sleep amid thunderclaps, went to bed under relatively calm skies, but with fingers crossed. The weather office said the northeast monsoon had set in after a well marked low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal intensified into a depression. Several streets got waterlogged for a few hours in the forenoon, but there was no wide-spread flooding as water drained from most places when the showers thinned out in the afternoon.

Most of the city recorded less than 10 cm of rain in the 12 hours from midnight to noon on Oct 15, yet water entered homes or flooded streets in several neighbourhoods. What's worrying is it could rain twice as much on Tuesday. Some of the flooding was because work on the Chennai metro had blocked drains.

V Govindarajan’s phone buzzed incessantly on Tuesday, with not just weather alerts but also desperate calls from his neighbours. With official helplines jammed, his team of 25 volunteers from the United Federation of Resident Welfare Associations of Tambaram Corporation became the community’s lifeline.

Many trains, buses and flights were delayed and cancelled owing to heavy rain in the city on Tuesday. Several express trains were either cancelled or diverted due to waterlogging on the railway tracks. Among the affected trains were five that were scheduled to depart from Chennai Central: Sapthagiri, Yercaud, Kaveri, Bodinayakanur Superfast, and Tirupati Express. Due to continued waterlogging between the Vyasarpadi and Basin Bridge sections, some of these trains were also cancelled for Wednesday.

Bursts of moderate to heavy rain lashed Bengaluru on Tuesday, causing widespread inundation and disruption of daily life in the city. While the widespread heavy rain did not unleash casualties, it flooded about 150 houses in various localities across Bengaluru.

With heavy rains lashing Chennai, many car owners have opted to park their vehicles on flyovers to protect them from potential flooding. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has announced the arrival of the northeast monsoon over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, southern interior Karnataka, and Kerala starting today.

Amid heavy rainfall in Tamil Nadu, eight flights scheduled to operate to and from Chennai, including routes from Bengaluru, Andaman, New Delhi, and Muscat, have been cancelled, according to an official statement.

After the consistent widespread overnight rainfall in the city and the neighbouring districts of Kancheepuram, Chengelpet and Tiruvallur, the IMD has upgraded the orange alert issued for Tuesday to red alert.