Lake overflows following heavy rain, floods over 150 houses

Lake overflows following heavy rain, floods over 150 houses

The Hindu

People go through midnight ordeal as gushing waters enter residential areas



WATER WOES: A woman throwing out water from the compound of her house in JP Nagar 6th Phase on Sunday after the Puttenahalli Lake overflowed following heavy rain in Bangalore on Saturday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: By Saturday midnight, residents of Basavanagar Kalappa Layout were fast asleep in their homes. An hour later, they were rudely awakened by the gushing waters of the nearby Dodda Nekkundi Lake, which flooded their houses, their roads, their drainages and everything else in sight. Their ordeal had just begun.

Heavy rain that lashed the city was particularly severe in Byappanahalli and other areas close to the airport.

Bearing the brunt of the downpour, the Kalappa Layout residents struggled through the night as the water kept flooding their living rooms.

Making matters worse, Raja Canal, the half-completed city municipal council drain that was built to take the water off the overflowing lake collapsed.

The water rushed into over 150 houses and by Sunday morning, the residents had to wade through three feet of water. After a lull on Sunday afternoon, the water was back again as the downpour returned with much force in the evening.

"We have been busy putting out the water since 2 a.m. We had to break a HAL compound wall at four or five places to let the water out," a resident C.P. Chengappa told The Hindu.

Houses resembled islands and the roads were flooded with three to four feet water. In their hour of need, the residents felt they deserved better from their elected representatives, the legislator and the municipal councillor.

"Water logging has been a problem for the last six years. We have been asking the people concerned to act but to no avail. We had even called a meeting of the officials and representatives three months ago, where all we got were assurances," lamented Michael, president of the Basavanagar East Welfare Association.

Draining out two feet of water from her house portico, Sarala complained of lack of sewage connections and storm water drains. "We have been here for 11 years, dealing with water logging, snakes, drainage. We had met every authority, including the Minister, but nothing gets done," she said in despair.

The association had urged the Krishnarajapuram CMC Commissioner to complete the Raja Canal drain work to prevent water from entering the houses. With a part of the five feet high drain wall missing and HAL raising the compound wall (building on the drain wall as the residents alleged) of the nearby LCA facility meant that the drain would not stop the water from entering the layout. "It may cause flood in our houses," the association had said in a letter to the officials in February.

Puttenahalli Lake

The overflowing Puttenahalli Lake trapped the residents of Annaiah Reddy Layout and other parts of J.P. Nagar 6th Phase, in knee-deep water. Angry residents blamed the municipal council authorities for not reacting to their repeated requests to address the drainage problems in the vicinity of the lake. "This problem has been there since six months. The rain has aggravated our troubles and now sewage water has also started entering our houses," said Sujeet, a resident.

Earthmovers engaged by the Bommanahalli City Municipal Council were busy clearing the slush that blocked the water flow. Heavy rain today slowed down the work as well.

Cellars of most apartments in the low-lying area were flooded, with cars and two-wheelers submerged in water. In some places, water had risen to almost 10 ft. Those with their flats in the ground floors had to shift to higher floors. A broken sewage pipe released drainage into the rainwater.