Rain leaves trail of havoc in City

Rain leaves trail of havoc in City
DH News Service Bangalore:
A forty-five-year-old woman was feared to have been washed away in the gushing waters of a drain in Ulsoor following heavy rain in Bangalore past Saturday midnight.

Torrential rain left a trail of havoc across the City inundating several houses and apartments and uprooting over a dozen trees and electricity poles.

Subbalakshmi was feared to have met a watery grave in the wee hours of Sunday when a petty shop in which she was sleeping was washed away in the drain. The shop was located next to the drain near Ajantha theatre in Ulsoor. The woman, a widow, was a resident of Cox Town.

According to Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Engineer (East Zone)

B T Ramesh, she decided not to go home on Saturday evening and slept in the shop as it was pouring. Only when some local residents learnt that the shop had disappeared in the morning did the incident come to light, he said. “We have been trying hard to fish out the body, if any. The incident can be confirmed only after retrieving the body,” he said.

Both the BBMP and fire fighting personnel have launched a search along the drain, which runs next to the Ulsoor Lake. Accumulation of garbage in the drain hampered the search operation, officials said.

There has been heavy damage to both public and private property. Hundreds of houses in the low-lying areas of Vasanthanagar Dobi Ghat, Kormangala I Cross, J P Nagar 5th Stage, Ejipura Main Road in Padmanabanagar, Lakshmanraonagar, Byappanahalli, Ambedkar Colony in Binnypet and the Bangalore Institute of Oncology in Shantinagar, have been flooded. Houses in around 38 areas are under water, according to a BBMP official release.

Residents blamed the BBMP for the havoc. “The retaining wall of a nearby storm-water drain was crumbling. Though complaints were made to the BBMP, nothing was done,” Abdul, a shop owner on I main road of Marutinagar in Madiwala, said.

Here, sewage mixed with rain water overflowed from a storm-water drain. Similar was the scene at the Shantinagar bus stand road and A N M Road in Ulsoor. Due to accumulation of silt, the drain overflowed onto the roads. Several huts belonging to the poor in Kodihalli were washed away.

As many as 16 trees were uprooted in places like Basavanagudi, Murgeshpalya, Rajajinagar, Malleswaram 18th Cross, Jayanagar, HAL II Stage,

M G Road, Bhuvaneshwarinagar, and near the BDA Complex at Banashankari II Stage. “All uprooted trees have been cleared for easy flow of vehicular traffic,” the BBMP claimed.

SINKING CITY

Worst-affected areas:

nVasanthanagar Dobi Ghat, Koramangala I Cross,

J P Nagar 5th stage, Ejipura main road in Padma-

nabanagar, Lakshmanraonagar, Byappanahalli,

Ambedkar Colony in Binnypet

nParking yards of apartments in Ulsoor, J P Nagar,

Koramangala inundated; Storm water drains overflow

in Madiwala, Shantinagar

The outlook: Thundershowers are expected to continue for a few more days