Scores of trees crash, poles collapse in city

Scores of trees crash, poles collapse in city

The Hindu

Seven children injured as parapet of a two-storeyed building crashes on them in Kamakshipalya

# Traffic on several roads in Rajajinagar disrupted
# Low-lying areas along Magadi Road flooded
# BMP helplines jammed with calls
# BWSSB to take up cleaning of one lakh manholes


BANGALORE: After cooling the city weather for over a week, the rains turned nasty on Thursday evening. The parapet of a two-storeyed building collapsed in incessant rains, injuring seven children who had taken shelter under it at Agrahara Dasarahalli on Magadi Road.

Over 20 trees came crashing down, mostly in Rajajinagar and Chamarajpet, wounding at least one person and damaging an autorickshaw. Traffic jams, water-logged houses and streets struck the Bangalorean again, bringing back memories of last year's devastating rains.

For the seven children caught under the parapet, taking shelter from the rains proved more painful. Among the injured were seven-year-old Diwakar, Jyothi (9), Shweta (21), Praveen (17), Shilpa (15), Jagadeesh (13) and Kumar (12). Five of them were shifted to a private hospital near Kamakshipalya, while two children were treated as outpatients.

Rajajinagar worst hit

The showers, accompanied by strong winds, were apparently too much for the trees in Rajajinagar to withstand. Fifteen trees crashed within the gap of an hour.

An electric pole crashed on an autorickshaw at Bhashyam Circle, injuring one person.

The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) Control rooms were flooded with distress calls from residents and road users.

Trees and branches kept falling on the roads, but no motorists were injured. Tree falls were reported from Rajajinagar 68th, 71st and 61st cross roads, 5th block; 12th main, 3rd block; 2nd block, near ABC Park; near Suresh Hospital, Rajajinagar; on 41st, 42nd and 50th cross roads; Sai Temple Road; Rama Mandir Road; Bandi Reddy Circle, Srirampuram; Dayanandanagar 1st Cross, Srirampuram; 5th Cross, Chamarajpet; Lakshminarayanapura 7th Cross; Prakashnagar 3rd Main; Railway Parallel Road, Srirampuram; J.C. Road near Minerva Circle; near Kannikaparameshwari Temple, Chamarajpet; and Okalipuram.

Two trees crashed on 1st Cross, 3rd Main, Domlur and 8th Block, Koramangala. Traffic was disrupted on all these roads, but the jams were much more pronounced at Sajjan Rao Circle and Hanumanthanagar. Water rushed into low-lying areas on Magadi Road. The police and the BMP personnel cleared the trees and branches from the roads. Till 11.30 p.m., the city had received 11.8 mm of rainfall, with a forecast of more wet days. At the airport, the day's rainfall was recorded as 8.8 mm, according to the Indian Meteorological Department.

Manholes affected

More than one lakh manholes spread across the city have been affected during the heavy rains of the past few days and they need to be cleaned up now, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board said.

"This will be the first time such a large scale cleaning of manholes is taken up and the work will start from May 22 and will continue for at least 10 days," BWSSB Chairman N.C. Muniyappa said.

The city has a vast network of drains that measure almost 4,000 km and this clean-up drive is expected to help in free flow of water during the rest of the rainy season and prevent flooding of roads.

BWSSB has 64 service centres in the city and the engineers will take up the work using 25 jetting machines that can flush out blockages.

Transportation of silt

The cleared silt will be carted away in designated vehicles and dumped away from the city without hampering the daily lives of citizens, the BWSSB said.

It has appealed to the public not to dump garbage or debris into manholes and also warned that inspection staff would identify such blocked up manholes and take strict action against those found using the manholes as waste bins.