Mangalore: Here Come the Rains, and the Pains!

Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore

Mangalore, Jun 3: The much-awaited monsoon rains lashed the city on Thursday June 2, and as expected, brought much smiles as well as annoyance with them.

The monsoons have arrived three days ahead of schedule, bringing relief from the summer heat.

As they say, when it rains in Mangalore, it pours. The first day of the rainy season lived up to its reputation, lashing in all its fury and glory. The city wore a fresh, green look, and the citizens were all smiles, enjoying the cool weather, the musical patter and the fragrance of the freshly-watered earth, despite the problems due to lack of adequate preparations to meet the monsoon.

As predicted by the Met department, rainfall continued on Friday June 3 also, and early morning showers saw children and citizens battling the rain on their way to school, colleges and offices. There was a short respite from the downpour for sometime, only to begin again in full force in early noon, accompanied by heavy winds. However, despite the break, the sun hardly made an appearance and the weather continued to be cloudy.

Half-constructed roads in many parts of the city are posing a threat to the commuters. The roads are literally inundated, with the mud piled on the sides of the road adding to the problems.

Without proper drainage facilities and well-defined footpaths, walking on the roads has become a nightmare for the pedestrians. The Mangalore city corporation had asssured of being ready for the monsoons, but by the looks of it, ordinary citizens have been left in the lurch, having to negotiate ankle-deep water on absent footpaths and poor roads, not to mention the potholes that become impossible to sight when the streets get flooded.

Nevertheless, the citizens opened their hearts to welcome the showers, and why not, being experts at dodging puddles and rushing through the downpour with scant 'dupattas' and books to cover their heads!

Rains in Udupi:

Pics: Hemanath Padubidri
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi

Udupi, Jun 3: In Udupi, the situation was not much different from its twin district. Many of the roads were inundated, and potholes made it even worse.

Flash floods along Kundapur – Suratkal stretch of NH 66, mainly due to ongoing road-widening works, are causing much agony to the citizens.

The storm water drains are not fully laid out as work on NH 66 is under way, amidst heavy vehicular traffic. The flash floods are causing havoc on farmlands, households and shops along NH 66.

The civic authorities had engaged workmen to clean the drains in all its thirty-six wards. 

The district administration convened a meeting here on Thursday June 2 with the officers to check the monsoon preparedness in health, natural calamities, traffic and general issues.

Deputy commissioner of M T Reju informed that round-the-clock control rooms would be set up to deal with problems arising out of incessant rains.

The commuters had to face much problems on the national highway 66 where road-widening work is going on. Also, areas where Mescom had dug up to install electricity poles are under soil erosion. The DC has urged Mescom to take stock of the situation at the earliest.