City airport topography allows rain water to drain off naturally

City airport topography allows rain water to drain off naturally
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: This year's monsoon forced the bustling Mumbai airport to shut for three days after the runway and taxiways were waterlogged. Now, the early onset of north-east monsoon has left the Visaskhapatnam airport terminal in knee-deep water. With Bangalore being blessed with heavy rains these days, the question on everyone's lips is whether the HAL-owned airport is `water proof.'

Just on Monday, there was a heavy 45.2 mm of rain, the highest for the month in the city. And more rains are predicted over the week. But the airport registered normal activity with not a single flight delayed or grounded due to water logging in any part of the vast airport.

``Bangalore airport is well prepared to take the rain rap. We do a mandatory pre-monsoon drain clearing drill during March and April to counter any threat to the airport due to rains,'' a HAL spokesperson told this website's newspaper paper.

Admitting that this year's rains were the heaviest, he said the drainage system along the airport is being desilted and stone-pitched to ensure smooth flow of rain water.

While Mumbai resembled a lake last July and Visakhapatnam airport buildings looked like flooded houses of Ejipura in the city, HAL airport worked like all other days without any disarray in the flight schedules. This was mainly possible due to the widening of the main drain along the boundary wall and constant clearing of the inlets and outlets by the airport authorities to prevent clogging.

HAL sources also said that the city's topography is giving the airport a natural drain-off enabling the waters to flow into the Bellandur lake.

But its not just open areas, the clutch of terminal buildings are each atleast two to four feet higher than ground level. The parking bays are flat and have been designed in such a way that rain water flows away from the buildings. The taxiways too, though old in design, are at different levels and does not allow water to fill up like Bangalore roads where vehicles splash water on unsuspecting motorcyclists and pedestrians.

The runway, though at a much lower level than the air side, can never be bogged down with water as its design allows water to flow into the gutters which join bigger drains leading out of the complex. The sloped tarmac helps the rain water in moving towards the Bellandur lake, which itself is situated in a natural valley, the spokesperson added.