Since August 15, when Bengaluru received its first big rain this monsoon season, there has been a pattern to the woes of the city - heavy downpour, flooded homes and areas, chipped off roads, slow moving traffic and collapsing trees and walls. Despite the suffering of Bengalureans, incompetent and corrupt city administrators have let the infrastructure crumble and left the city to rot. Chandrashekar G., Aknisree Karthik and Mujahid Deputy report.
In a repeat of August 15 when the city's low lying areas were flooded in a downpour, Tuesday's overnight rain left many localities once again waterlogged, basements of apartments with vehicles parked, flooded and many homes struggling to keep their furniture and equipment safe from the water entering them.
The spirit of the Dasara festival and children's vacations was clearly dampened as the city received 55.8 mm rain till 8.30 am Wednesday, bringing down electric poles and cutting off power supply to many parts. It was mayhem as people woke up to traffic jams, lakes breaching and news of a compound wall of a house crashing.
Tumakuru Road
The Fire and Emergency Services staff, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Civil Defence personnel were brought in to evacuate people to safety and pump out water from flooded areas. HSR Layout 6th and 7th sector were the worst hit with most of the bylanes here submerged in knee-deep water.
Ms Jameela, sister of MLC, C. M. Ibrahim blamed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for the administration's failure to clear storm water drains and stop the city from flooding every monsoon. "I have suffered huge loss as the water gushed into my house in no time. Frantic calls to the BBMP got no response and only the firemen came to our help. If people like us are allowed to suffer like this, what can others expect? Will the BBMP pay for our loss?" she demanded. At Anugraha Layout in Kodichikkanahalli, which was flooded for the third time in rain this year, the people could only pray for mercy, said Ms Mangala M, a resident.
Hebbal flyover
Lakes breach banks
The downpour resulted in breaching of the Doddabidarakallu lake in North Bengaluru and the Binnamangala lake. The result was flooding of the Nelamangala highway and service road nearby. The traffic pile- up that followed was a nightmare for commuters.
Going by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), Hemmigepura received the highest rainfall of 139.5 mm within BBMP limits and Avalahalli in Bengaluru East taluk received as much as 196 mm of rain.
Villas flooded
People from over 200 villas had to be evacuated to safety at this gated community with the rain flooding the area. Mr M. Ravi, Whitefield Fire Services Station officer, said of the 430 villas over 200 were flooded after a major storm water drain adjacent to the locality breached . "Secretary of the villa area, Sampath made a call to the fire station at 8 am. But we could not pump out the water as it continued to gush in. And so it was decided to evacuate the people to safety with the help of rubber boats," he explained, adding that the water could be pumped out only if the rain subsided.
Mr Leo Saldanha of the Environment Support Group blamed the "shortsightedness" of the government and the civic agencies for the regular flooding of the city in rain.
Wall collapses on vehicles
It was utter chaos here with houses flooded, a compound wall crashing down on cars and uprooted electricity poles plunging it into darkness. People were seen scooping out water with the buckets Wednesday morning and many had to take the day off from work to sanitise their houses after p umping out the filthy water.
“For the first time houses on our lanes were marooned as the BBMP has taken up desilting and repair work here. The water had nowhere to go and so flooded houses," said a resident, Srinivas Shastry. Housing Minister, M. Krishnappa and outgoing Mayor, G. Padmavathi, inspected the area to check for the flood damage.
Houses under water
The overnight rain left many houses here marooned. For Ms Usha Gupta, a resident of 7th cross, HSR Layout sector 6, the experience was a nightmare and left her wishing she had never returned to India. "I was attracted by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi's speeches to come and work in Bengaluru. But although living here is pleasant most times, the rainy season is a nightmare. The ground floor of our house was flooded and the water stored in the sump ruined. I urge my fellow Non- Resident Indians to think twice before coming to Bengaluru until the BBMP fixes the problem of flooding," she added fervently.
Traffic crawls
The heavy downpour brought the city to its knees once again, disrupting normal life for hours with roads waterlogged and traffic moving at a snail's pace in many parts.
Office-goers had a torrid time as traffic was bumper-to-bumper in the Central Business District, High Grounds, HSR Layout, Rajajinagar, Basavanagudi, BTM Layout, Koramangala, Residency Road, Richmond Road, Sarjapura, Domlur, Whitefield, Hosur Road, Mysuru Road and Tumkur Road-Sumanahalli Junction.
“This is pathetic. I have been waiting for more than an hour to get across this half-a-kilometre stretch. I wonder if I will ever reach home considering how slow the traffic is. This happens every time it rains , but the authorities never seem to learn,” said a fed up Ashok, a private firm employee, who was stuck at Sony Junction in Koramangala.
More rain likely, says Met dept
Going by the weatherman, the city has received "moderate to heavy rainfall" over the past few days and more rain of similar intensity can be expected over the next two or three days. Mr Sundar Metri, head of the Meteorological Centre in Bengaluru, said the cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal is responsible for the current spell of rain.
Weathermen at the private weather forecaster, Skymet, revealed that its city observatory recorded 9mm of rain in 24 hours, while the airport observatory, 6 mm. “This indicates that the rains were widespread,” they added, attributing the rains to the wind shear and a trough extending from the West Central Bay to the Southwest Arabian Sea across North Tamil Nadu and south-interior Karnataka.
Despite the recent heavy downpour, weathermen say the city has not broken any records yet. Going by the IMD figures, the highest rainfall the city has received in September is 516.6mm, recorded in 1986. It has already received 496mm of rain between September 1 and 27. The next few days will show whether it will receive more rain than in 1986.
