Bengaluru: Gusty winds tear beams, panels off Rs 314-crore Visvesvaraya Terminal. Watch

Metal beams from the roof lay on the road in front of Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal in Bengaluru. (Screengrab from video shared by @Lolita_TNIE on Twitter)

Bengaluru's famous Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal - India's first centrally air-conditioned railway station - suffered severe damage in the rainstorm that lashed the city on Tuesday. The structure which was inaugurated in June last year was built at a cost of Rs 314 crore.

Videos doing rounds on social media show gusty winds pulling off panels and beams from the roof of the terminal as passengers rushed to safety. The area was also flooded with several torn metal pieces lying on the road in front of the station while others were being blown around in the wind.

(2/2) The terrible wind & parts of ceiling flying forcefully in all direction captured here (video recd from source via whatsapp). This was around 1 45 pm pic.twitter.com/rdkGTG6RWp

— S. Lalitha (@Lolita_TNIE) May 30, 2023

As per a report in New Indian Express (TNIE), sections of the roof inside Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal began to collapse at the entrance of the station and on platform one.

"With the Howrah Express departure delayed by nearly three hours, general ticket passengers who had to board the train were waiting outside the terminus," an eye-witness told the publication. "When it started raining, they rushed to the circulating area for shelter. Suddenly, there were fierce winds and the roof panels started tearing and falling. This gave passengers time to run inside the terminal."

Another witness added, "One of the panels fell on a TV set a passenger was carrying home, and broke it. Luggage also suffered damage."

Winds were blowing quite intensely in Bengaluru on Tuesday with their speed touching 66 kilometers per hour while the normal wind speed in Bengaluru is 30-40 kilometers per hour, weather forecaster Adarsh Gowda told TNIE.

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