Heavy rain batters Bangalore

Heavy rain batters Bangalore
Deccan Herald

Bangalore infrastructure (what’s left of it) took a battering as rain lashed the City on Saturday night.

On Sunday morning, Bangaloreans woke up to see images straight out of floods in Mumbai and New Orleans, but this time it was happening in their own front yards.

Flooded roads, innundated homes, damaged cars, public outrage and at least one death followed a night of ceaseless rainfall, which measured 120.7 mm in the City and 69.1 mm in the airport area.

One case of death was reported at Vinobhanagar, Kalasipalyam, where a five-year-old boy was found floating in a nearby storm water drain on Sunday. He had been missing since Saturday evening, when heavy rain lashed the City.

Nature yet again turned out to be impartial — the chaos and the mess affected the rich and the poor alike. While slums near Hosur Road and Mysore Road were largely innundated, basements and ground floors were submerged in luxury apartments in Langford Town, Indiranagar and HSR Layout.

Cracks in Begur canal

Areas like Rajarajeshwarinagar, HSR Layout, Balaji Layout, J P Nagar and Hebbal were perhaps the worst hit, where the water level reached up to five feet by 9 am. The situation was so dire that the Fire Brigade and the Home Guards had to deploy boats to rescue residents living in low-lying Mangamanapalya near HSR Layout, which was flooded due to cracking of the Begur canal. Temporary shelters in schools and mosques were provided for over 500 people affected in the area, and food packets were distributed.

Temporary channels, that were dug to divert storm water from the area, flooded Sectors VI and VII of HSR Layout instead. The water level was steadily rising by a feet an hour on late Sunday afternoon, when Deccan Herald visited the site. On Hosur Road, many corporate establishments, including the Wipro office, were almost submerged. As many as 13 fire brigade pumping sets were deployed to pump out excess water from HSR Layout.

Traffic was diverted and Hosur Road was made a one-way for a few hours in the morning due to flooding in Bommanahalli. Over 6,500 telephone lines were snapped following water logging at the Hosur Road Telephone Exchange.

Mysore road chaos

There was equal mayhem on certain stretches of Mysore Road, which had to bear the brunt of an overflowing Vrishabhavathi Lake. The junction next to Rajarajeshwarinagar Arch on Mysore Road was flooded up to five feet by 6 am, bringing traffic to a grinding halt.

A BMTC bus stood dangerously marooned, even as the traffic police struggled to bring order till late afternoon. At the nearby Mysore Road-Outer Ring Road junction, many houses were flooded due to a bund break at Nayandahalli Kere. While many areas at Hebbal was flooded, the worst-hit was Badrappa Layout, where water reached neck-level. Many residents were forced to take refuge on the terrace as the ground floor was completely submerged. Nagawara Layout at Hebbal was also affected.

Meanwhile, the underground water channels leading to Puttenahalli Lake overflowed, severely affecting J P Nagar V and VI Stage. Residents were stranded in their homes, and many complained of not having access to drinking water. “The situation is so bad that we shift out of our houses each time it rains,” said Sujit, a resident of J P Nagar VI Stage. Public anger against the government and the authorities continued to rage, even as politicians and senior officials, including Primary and Secondary Education Minister Ramalinga Reddy, Binnypet MLA V Somanna, BMP Commissioner K Jothiramalingam, Police Commissioner Ajai Kumar Singh and Commissioner-CMC Bommanahalli Uday Shankar made field visits to the affected areas.

“Water has been rising since 5 am, but rescue efforts began only after 9 am. There was nothing we could do except see our property washed away,” cried Ibrahim Sharief, a resident of Mangamanapalya. Subramanya Gupta, member of HSR Resident Welfare Association, blamed the situation on “bad planning by the BDA”. “The BDA has made layouts in low-lying areas, but have not provided for drainage,”

Public rage

Residents of Venkatadri Layout on Bannerghatta Road, took matters into their hands after finding their houses flooded thrice in a row in the same month. “We now hire high-power pumps to suck out water from our homes instead of relying on civic authorities,” M Hiremath, an apartment resident, explained. Two cases of building collapse were reported from areas like Nagarpet and Siddanna Lane. The BMP received 44 complaints from areas like Gandhinagar, Vijaynagar, Rajajinagar, Cambridge Layout and Sanjaynagar.

Sunday continued to be gloomy with light showers. According to Meteorological centre, the city received 10.3 mm of rainfall till 8:30 pm.