BANGALORE MUMBAI-ED

BANGALORE MUMBAI-ED
Flooded homes, gridlocked traffic
BCC Shifts 100 Families
The Times of India

Bangalore: A sordid mix of rain water, drain water, sewage and water from swollen lakes. A stranded populace of 75 lakh. Precisely the kind of crumbling infrastructure that IT czar Narayana Murthy has been talking about.

Tuesday’s 86.5 mm of rain brought Bangalore to its knees. There were few signs of life, except vehicles honking frantically and crawling h o m ew a rd s. The peripheral areas of Bangalore — Bommanahalli, Hosur Road, K R Puram, HSR Layout, Byatarayanapura and Kengeri — bore the brunt of the deluge.

Harassed commuters on Hosur Road, the lifeline between Bangalore and its IT corridor, moved at 0.5 kmph all of Tuesday. Indications are that it will only get worse on the morrow.

With 525 mm of rain, October marks the wettest month ever recorded in the history of Bangalore.

Every house in HSR Layout, IPS Colony, Mangamannpalya, New BEL Road, apartment complexes in Bommanahalli, Victoria Layout, Bannerghatta Road, K R Puram, Pai Layout, HAL II Stage, Michaelpalya, Jogupalya and Puttenahalli was inundated. Citizens had two kind of reactions: of panic and making frantic calls to civic authorities, or just staying indoors and patiently waiting for the water to recede from their living rooms.

On narrow roads in Jnanabharati, the area housing Bangalore University, water levels reached 6 feet.

As of Tuesday evening, over 40 houses had collapsed in various parts of the city.

The BCC evicted people from five seriously affected wards.

In the lowlying Kempambudi ward, near Basavanagudi, the BCC requested over 50 families to relocate. Chandra Badavane, in western Bangalore, too, has been issued precautionary notice to vacate the houses. In all, 100 families have been temporarily relocated.

BCC commissioner K Jothiramalingam said: “As a precautionary measure, we have asked people from five wards to evacuate. We have provided temporary relief at BCC schools which will double up as relief centres for the time being.”

“Because of the desilting work undertaken at Koramangala and Challaghatta Valley a few months ago, there were fewer complaints from Koramangala. It’s Vrishabhavathi Valley that needs to be tacked on a war footing,’’ he said.

Schools, colleges closed


The state government has declared a holiday for all schools and colleges in Bangalore on Wednesday and Thursday in view of the incessant rain.
Primary and secondary education minister R Ramalinga Reddy said the decision was taken keeping in view the safety of the children. “If rain continues, Friday will also be a holiday. The situation will be reviewed on Thursday,’’ he told The Times of India.

The Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences declared a holiday for two days, beginning Wednesday, for all its affiliated colleges. The director of Pre-University Education said all colleges in BCC, Bommanahalli and KR Puram will also be closed.

Deluge of records


The rain in Bangalore for the past four days has broken a seven-year-old record. The city’s annual rainfall stood at 1,435.3 mm, 3.1 mm more than the all-time high recorded in 1998. Met department director A L Koppar said: “Bangalore’s normal annual rainfall is only 970 mm. But these rains have, in a way, even broken the record annual rainfall of 1,428 mm set in 1874.” October has also been the wettestever month in the last 49 years.

Weatherman’s tips:

Don’t put your rain gear away. The deluge will be on for another 48 hours. Both the meteorological department and the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre have forecast a downpour.

Don’t stir outdoors


It’s official: venture out for the next two days only if it is really necessary. Police commissioner Ajai Kumar Singh has appealed to citizens to try and stay put in their homes as waterlogging and uprooted trees throughout the city have led to huge traffic jams.

Danger at Ullal lake


Armymen were called out to tackle the situation at the swollen Ullal Lake near Jnanabharati. The retaining wall was on the verge of crumbling, leaving residents panicstricken. In Madivala too, the Army’s help was sought.