Bengaluru washed away in rain
BENGALURU, MAY 18: Karnataka’s tech capital, the Silicon city’s management was once again exposed on late Tuesday night on till Monday morning as the city was ‘washed away’ in the rain.
Not just are most parts of the city still inundated with 2-3 feet deep standing water, but in areas where water flowed down, left behind silt, muck and garbage. Citizens were not just seen draining out water from most parts of the city on late Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, but also cleaning the garbage and silt as the city corporation- Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) staffers were unable to reach the spots.
According to India meteorological department (IMD) the city upto 8.30 am from 8.30pm on Tuesday night recorded 11cms rainfall (114.6mm). According to Karnataka state natural disaster monitoring centre (KSNDMC) maximum rainfall was recorded in Horamavu recorded 155mm rainfall, while Yelahanka recorded 129mm, Vidyapeetha 127mm, Rajmahal 122mm, Nagapura 120mm and Sampangiramanagar 119mm.
The BBMP control room head office alone recorded 1500 calls all night. A total of all the eight zones control rooms received 8000 calls, most of them pertaining to water logging, cars damaged and silt. A senior BBMP official told The New Indian Express that clearing water will pumps from basements, wil take the entire day. But clearing all the muck, silt and garbage will take around 2-3 days. Additional staff is being hired to ensure that things are cleared at the earliest.
“Seems like no lessons from November- December rains have been learnt. There is no place in the city for water to receed, like in other cities. Due to this citizens are stranded even till Wednesday morning,” admitted a senior BBMP official.
Traffic police were seen having a tough time managing traffic, making deviations like on raids like Shanthinagar, international airport road, Devenagalli main road, Koramangala, Indiranagar due to water logging. Incase of airport road traffic jams upto 3kms continues even on Wednesday morning as water is clogged and vehicles are stranded since Tuesday night. Traffic jams were reported on Hebbal flyover also on Wednesday morning due to water logging.
In Devanahalli’ Yetaganahalli, citizens were forced to walk for over 3km as the underpass is completely submerged in water. In ase of Rajarajeshwari Nagar, citizens were forced to take matters in their hand and clear water and muck even in Wednesday morning as water gushed into homes, flooded basements. “We are still unable to clear the water and muck. This is becoming a major problem every time it rains, water stands still and we are left for fend for ourselves,” said an agitated Prasad, resident of RR Nagar.
In any places children are unable to reach school on time due to continues rainfall on Wednesday morning, school buses stranded, traffic jams and seized vehicles left on the road.
In Mahalakshmi layout, soon after the rain started to subside, minister K Gopalaiah visited the flood hit areas and pulled up BBMP officials for the mess. In some areas he had to take the help of people to walk, so that he would not slip due to the silt and water still flowing on the roads. He assured help to the citizens immediately.
The worst hot areas according to BBMP were RR nagar, apartments in RR nagar especially those in Janapriya layout, areas behind RR Nagar temple, sheshadripuram where private and police vehicles sunk into roads where potholes were left unattended, Shivajinagar where compound walls of many buildings collapsed leaving people and commuters stranded, Lahari apartments in Dollars colony, in Hennur people said it was like a river was flowing on the road, Shanthinagar, Richmond circle, Mysuru road, Tyagarajanagar, Koramangala where even BBMP chief commissioner Tushar Girinath had to visit, Hebbagodi, Electronic City and Chandapura.
The situation in kendriya vihar apartment in Yelahanka was a repeat of what they had experienced in Novey 2021, water stagnation. Even after chief minister Basavaraj bommai had visited and assured that it would not repeat, nothing changed.
In upkar layout, two Bwssb workers one from Bihar and he other from Uttar Pradesh are said to have died due to the heavy down pour and mud sinking. The two workers were working on laying Cauvery pipelines. The incident happened in Kengeri in Ullal.
The internet and mobile connections in many areas is affected because of the hwa y down pour and damages. This panicked citizens all the more as those who could not go to offices were unable to work form home or connect with dear ones to know about their well being.
Chief minister Basavaraj bommai said that directions have been given to home guards, SDRF, NDRF and other agencies to clear all the water and silt immediately. He siad that he was also seeking a report from BBMP on what has happened and why. He announced to inspect some areas including Hosakerahalli to take a look for the damages himself and announce the required compensation amount.
On the question of lack of preparedness and no lessons learnt, CM said that all preparations were done, the drians were cleaned and desilted. But the city received over 100mn rainfall in couple of hours due to which the damages have happened.
-PTI
