City caught unprepared to bear rain onslaught

Photos: The Times of India

Houses flooded, cars float, drains choked
Work in factories in Nayandahalli, off Mysore Road, had to be suspended for the day as rain water gushed into their premises.
Deccan Herald

Nature grew furious on a congested Bangalore city in the wee hours of Wednesday, with heavy rains taking the lives of two people and causing extensive damage to property in several areas.

Flooded basements in apartments, floating cars, overflowing storm water drains, collapsed walls in slums and roads in knee-deep water were the order of the day, three days after Chief Minister N Dharam Singh had sounded a warning to civic agencies to get their act together in rain-related relief.

The heavy rains snuffed out the life of a 68-year-old woman, left at least half-a-dozen persons injured, reduced over 10 huts to slush and converted many houses into pools.

In Chandra Layout’s Attiguppe area, a ragpicker was killed and her grandson was injured when the wall of their house collapsed on them around 3 am.
The victims, who were asleep when the tragedy struck, were identified as Mayamma and Puneet (12).

The incident occurred near Lakshmi Narasimha Temple on Attiguppe III Main Road. Neighbours rescued Puneet, who was caught under the debris, and shifted him to a hospital. In Nagavara Tank, the body of an unidentified man was found floating on Wednesday morning. The DJ Halli police said the victim might have drowned.

In Rajagopalnagar, a man named Manjunath suffered injuries when a portion of wall collapsed on him around 2 am while he was sleeping in his relative’s house. He was shifted to hospital and is out of danger. In Cox Town’s Jeevanahalli area, three cars were damaged when the wall of an apartment crashed after being pounded by the rains.

But the worst-affected were those residing along the Vrishabhavathi river. Traffic on the Bangalore-Mysore Road was thrown out of gear for more than four hours at Mylasandra Gate on Wednesday morning as the river water flooded the road.
As the water on the road was knee-deep, engines of several light vehicles conked out and commuters were stranded, blocking the movement of heavy vehicles. Traffic had to be diverted through the Jnana Bharathi area during the peak hour.
In Nayandahalli, off Mysore Road, several factories had to be shut for the day because water gushed into their premises. Some of the machines were submerged in water.

In nearby Pantharpalya slum, parts of walls of nearly 150 houses caved in after the dowpour. Residents sleeping on mats found themselves completely drenched. They were struggling to drain the water till late evening on Wednesday.

In Gandhinagar near Kengeri, four huts collapsed and more than 10 were flooded. In Kengeri Satellite Town three of the 50 huts collapsed and over 15 were flooded. Police personnel moved the slum dwellers to safer places. Slum-dwellers of Mathikere woke up to water gushing in from all sides in the early hours.
The 100-odd residents fled their homes in the night to take shelter in a nearby government school.

The Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation’s office in Mathikere was also flooded. Power lines snapped in several parts.

Rain water flowed into the Jalakanteshwara temple in Cubbonpet.