NO ENTRY, NO EXIT

NO ENTRY, NO EXIT
It was havoc once again in the city. Just 3 cm of rain was enough to cause a gridlock that lasted all of evening. The rest followed
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: Starting at noon, 3 cm of rain pelted the city on Friday and, for the rest of the evening, our buzzing metro stood gridlocked.
Roads vanished under sheets of water and trees were uprooted, crushing vehicles. There were severe traffic jams, particularly on roads leading away from Minerva circle junction and V V Puram. This was the worst-hit area.
In Laggere, near Peenya, two fire tenders had to fight for over two hours to rescue people when rainwater flooded the Lalitha Prasanna Layout. Around Minerva Circle, water rose 3-4 ft on the road, hampering vehicle movement and creating jams towards Jayanagar, Koramangala, Adugodi, Hosur Road, BTM Layout and K R Market. All roads were packed with stationary vehicles in serpentine queues. People were seen pushing two-wheelers and cars through the water.
Shoppers were stranded on roads in the middle of crawling traffic and submerged roads. The worst-affected areas were V V Puram-Minerva junction, BTM Layout, Koramangala, Adugodi, Jayanagar, J C Road, J P Nagar and Ejipura.
Huge trees were uprooted in southern parts like Basavanagudi, particularly on Bull Temple Road, V V Puram and J P Nagar, with some of them crushing vehicles and others falling on park fences.
Many people from BTM Layout could not reach offices in the cantonment area, cut off by water-logging and autos unwilling to cross the floods. Autos also raked in their moolah for the day, knowing fully well the level of desperation.
In Jayanagar III Block, four vehicles, including two cars and an auto, got stuck in deep water and had to be pushed to the side. “I saw a two-wheeler completely immersed in water. Only the rear view mirror was visible,” said Seethalakshmi M S, a resident of Koramangala 6th Block. Even lorries were partly immersed in water on J C Road.
Police had to finally divert traffic through other roads in areas like Double Road, VV Puram, Ashwati Layout and Adugodi. “There was so much chaos that I could not reach my office and had to stay home,” said Arun V Yesodharan, a resident of BTM I Stage, where the water rose to 2 ft. All roads leading to BTM Layout were caught in a traffic jam even till late evening. The tar on Bannerghatta Road gave way, leading to further chaos. “It is just pothholes now. There is no tar on it,” said Shilpa Vishwanath, a commuter.
The other major concern was water seeping into houses. “The colour of the water was black. I cannot describe the kind of things that came floating by into my house,” said Seethalakshmi. Water gushed in and stood at 2 ft in many houses in posh Jayanagar, and residents had to hire motor pumps to clear it. Others used buckets. The Met department said an average of 3 cm of raingall was received.