Bengaluru: After days of thunderstorms and late evening downpours, Thursday's eight hours of continuous rain brought Bengaluru to its knees, throwing traffic completely out of gear across the city, with several hapless commuters having to be physically extracted from buses and autorickshaws, with many motorists left stranded on flooded roads for hours.
With 65.2 mm of rain pounding the city virtually non-stop until 8.30 pm, many localities faced the worst waterlogging they had seen in years. In a repeat of 2005, and the havoc from the relentless rains since August 15 this year, a number of vehicles were nearly submerged in water on a flooded Hosur Road, in Electronic City and Bommasandra. Some vehicles broke down in the middle of the roads, holding up traffic.
While passengers in BMTC buses and autorickshaws had to be rescued from a waterlogged Electronic City Road , Metro Rail commuters and motorists had a hard time negotiating the gushing water on Mysore Road near Nayandahalli.
With rain battering it, the water from the Vrishabhavathi valley, which confluences with the Cauvery at Mekedatu, overflowed on to Mysore Road, completely flooding it and forcing many marooned vehicles to navigate their way to a different route.
The IT campuses were deluged. "It was like a river on the Wipro and Infosys campuses and it looked like a lake had been diverted to Electronic City on Thursday," said Mr Karthikeyan, a resident of Electronic City.
Wailed Ms Swarit Agarrwal, an employee of Manyata Tech Park: "We are marooned and are finding it difficult to get home. Even otherwise the traffic is very bad and so are the potholes. On a normal day we spend over three to four hours in commuting and when it rains, it is unimaginable! Things get so bad."
Mr Abhineet Sharma, a tax expert employed at AMR Tech Park, was worried about getting home to a flooded Electronic City . "While there is no problem in Bommanahalli , I don't think I will find it easy to get back home to Electronic City, which is flooded," he lamented.
More rains forecast
According to weathermen from private forecaster Skymet, moderate spells of rains are expected to continue in the city for the next two days.
"At present, a trough is passing from South Interior Karnataka to North Coastal Karnataka due to which rains are expected to continue. After 24 to 48 hours, this trough will begin to weaken and rains will reduce over the city. Only isolated light rains will continue and weather will become partly cloudy. However, for the next two days, cloudy to overcast sky conditions will be witnessed. Temperatures will remain on the pleasant side," weathermen at Skymet said.
