Bengaluru: Heavy rains lashed the city for the second consecutive day on Saturday and threw life out of gear, but it appears BBMP has not learned anything from the August 15 rain fury.
Areas such as Koramangala, HSR Layout, Anugraha Layout at Kodichikkanahalli, Bannerghatta Road, Bommanahalli, Gottigere, K.R. Puram got inundated and turned into islands. With no regular desilting of drains, rapid encroachment of shoulder drains and stormwater drains many areas and roads in Bengaluru got reduced to cess pools. In many houses in Koramangala rainwater first inundated the cellar and then went up to the first floor.
Le Meridien underpass flooded
The underpass next to Hotel Le Meridien, located few metres away from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's official residence Krishna, got totally immersed in water. The underpass provides connectivity for vehicles between Vasanthnagar and Hebbal.
Roads flooded
With no space for the rainwater to flow, majority of the roads at Varthur, Whitefield, Hosur Road, Begur, Bommanahalli, Jayanagar, Vijaynagar, Silk Board, Ramamurthynagar, Shanthinagar, Vasanthnagar had turned into rivulets with knee-deep water.
Commuters had tough time reaching their destination. There were incidents of skidding as roads had become slipper in many places. Begur Lake embankment breached
Incessant rains led to breach of Begur Lake embankment, resulting in flooding in downstream areas.
20 trees uprooted
Twenty cases of tree fall were reported in various parts of the city on Saturday. Most of them were reported from Bengaluru East and South Zone. BBMP control room recorded over 40 flood related complaints from Bommanahalli zone.
No lessons learned
Weathermen have been repeatedly giving out warning of heavy rainfall, but they have gone unheeded. The last time BBMP ignored the warning was on August 15 and the latest one being this two-day deluge.
BBMP which should have taken up desilting of shoulder drains and SWDs much before the monsoon has taken it up only now, which is of no use. "While we have the credit of sending rocket to Mars it is disheartening that we haven't found a permanent solution to this," said Shruthi, a resident of Koramangala.
Angry residents demanded the BBMP to compensate for their lost properties.
More rains forecast
Weathermen have forecast heavy rains for the next 4-5 days. Srinivasa Reddy, director of KSNDMC said "Depression formed over the southern part of Bay of Bengal is bringing rains to all the southern parts of India including Bengaluru. According to our prediction, rains are set to continue till September 7, may be with some gap."
Mayor draws flak
In the absence of Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George, BBMP Mayor G Padmavathi alone visited the rain affected areas. Angry residents slammed her for not taking any action after getting elected as Mayor. Residents questioned what was preventing BBMP from finding a permanent solution to their problems.
