BENGALURU: Heavy rains on Sunday night and Monday morning left several parts of the city inundated. Several incidents of uprooting of trees and water in the basements were reported. The residents of Jaynagar and MLA Layout on Bannerghatta road were the worst affected. “This happened last year too. We had to pump out water from our basement. The water level has receded, but there is still water in the basement,” said Mr Priyaranjan, a resident of an apartment on Bannerghatta Road.
The residents accused the BBMP of not completing storm water drain works before the onset of monsoon. Mr Priyaranjan said that the civic agency has failed to learn from its past mistakes. “The BBMP is steeped in corruption. The storm water drains are blocked, but nobody cares about it,” he said. The fire department said that low-lying areas were the worst affected and pumping work took a few hours.
Tree doctor Vijay Nishanth said that trees get uprooted as civic agencies, while working on drains, cut the roots making even healthy trees fall during rains. “This is bound to happen and the fault lies with government agencies. They see such damage every year and still do not learn from it,” he said. A section of the jogging track on Agara Lake caved in after the rains. The park caretakers said that the mud around a sewage line running under the track loosened, sinking the track.
After the heavy rains, power cuts were reported from in Banaswadi, Seva Nagar, Byatarayanapura, Peenya, Nayandahalli, parts of Banashankari, Indiranagar, CV Raman Nagar and surrounding areas as feeder stations and transformers failed. A Bescom official said that they could carry out the repair works only after the rain subsided. On Sunday, they received 9,314 complaints from across the city. “Our linemen attended to the complaints and power was restored in all the affected areas by Monday afternoon,” he said.
City may experience rain for a week: Met
The city is likely to experience heavy to moderate rainfall over the next week, said Meteorological Department officials on Monday. The south-west monsoon is weak this month because of the decline in the pressure gradient, they said.
The Meteorological centre, Bengaluru recorded heavy to very heavy rainfall of 200 mm in Bommanahalli zone and 126.5 mm in Rajarajeshwari Nagar zone. “Thunderstorms accompanied by lightning, moderate rain and strong winds reaching up to 32 kmph are likely over Bengaluru Urban, Tumakuru, Mysuru, Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu districts,” said an official from the department.
