Orange, red alerts issued for Karnataka: IMD predicts heavy rainfall for Bengaluru

New Delhi, July 10: The IMD has issued an orange and red alert for Karnataka and has predicted heavy rainfall in Bengaluru. It said that a low pressure area will be formed over the west and central regions in the days to come.

The IMD has issued a red alert for July 11 and 12 and an orange alert for July 10 and 13. Central Bengaluru will experience rain and thunderstorms in the next two days, the IMD Bengaluru Director, C S Patil told Livemint.

According to the parameters set by the IMD, an orange alert means heavy rainfall while a red alert means exceptionally heavy rainfall. Patil said that between July 1 and 7, Chikkmagaluru, Hassan, Shivamogga and Kodagu districts received less rainfall as a result of which the Jog Falls is drying up.

"One of the most important reasons behind this is drastically reducing forest cover. The problem is that none of the political leaders and the so-called intellectuals is bothered about that. We have to massively increase the forest cover in these areas," Shankar Sharma, an environmentalist told ANI.

Shimoga, Udipi, Dakshin Kannada, Kodagu, Mysore, Hassan, and Chikmagalur have remained rain deficient this year. Bidar, Gulbarga, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Dharwad, Raichur, Koppal, Gadag, Bellary, Devangere, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mandhya, Chamarajanagar, and Bangalore rural are among districts that experienced 'excess' to 'very excess' rainfall during the same time period, according to the IMD.