Bangalore braves rainiest day of the month, traffic hit as usual
The afternoon darkened and the skies opened up to unloaded 37.5 mm rain on Tuesday. Not a big figure by any means but enough to bring the city to its knees. As expected, trees were uprooted, drains overflowed and houses in low-lying areas inundated.
Vehicles switched on their headlines when the rain began around 4.30 p.m. Commuters had a tough time getting home with traffic hit on all arterial and sub-arterial roads.
The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) control rooms were flooded with calls. Mayor D. Venkatesh Murthy monitored the central control room for a while, while Deputy Mayor L. Srinivas was at the south zone control room.
Homes flooded
BBMP said rain water entered more than 15 houses near Muneshwara Temple, Rajagopalanagar, coming under Dasarahalli zone. Residents in D.J. Halli and Ejipura spent anxious hours worrying if their homes will be flooded as usual.
The raja kaluve (big storm water drain) near the government school in Thanisandra overflowed, transforming the road into a rivulet. Several roads were waterlogged, including Vittal Mallya Road, Brigade Road, M.G. Road, Laggere, Good Shed Road and roads around Vidhana Soudha and Cubbon Park.
Three Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses found themselves stuck in a trench covered by rain water on Mysore Road.
Tree falls
Trees were uprooted near Lavanya Theatre in Ulsoor, near Yediyur Lake, St. John's Road, Krumbiegel Road, Nagasandra Road, Padmanabhanagar, Bull Temple Road, Cauvery Bhavan, M.S. Building, Gandhinagar, near Oxford School in J.P. Nagar, Raghavendra Block in Srinagar, High Court complex, Richmond Circle, Gavipuram Guttahalli, Kengeri Satellite Town, Shankarapuram and Rajajinagar. Though the falling trees damaged some vehicles, no one was injured.
Motorists, particularly two-wheeler riders, had some scary moments when they had to face squally winds and hailstones.
Hailstones were reported in Shanthinagar, Shivajinagar, Hosur Road, Mathikere and Yeshwanthpur. Shashidhar N.R., manager of an automobile company on Hosur Road, said he stopped his car as he was worried the hailstones would damage its windshield.
Chandrakala Tejaram (name changed), who was travelling from Shivajinagar to Vijayanagar, said that even after being on the road for over an hour, she was not even halfway.
“We took several deviations hoping to avoid traffic jam. We finally got home after being on the road for nearly two hours,” she said.
Keywords: Rain woes
Bangalore BBMP always does a good work i am sure they will do a good job next time
The author fails to mention the context. And hence interprets the
ground situation incorrectly. The down pour was sudden. The inflow on
to the ground was too high for any drainage system. The author needs
to understand the reasons for on ground flooding before commenting on
a city's sanitation. Secondly, the flooded houses, all of them are
built in low lying areas which used to be agri fields or lakes. So
with such inflow flooding is expected. And most of these areas were
once slums and unable to relocate them were converted into
residential areas. With the IT boom, houses came in. But that does
not change the area's altitude. Traffic, well, no city in the world
can claim not to have jams in rains. Its worse in Blore, agreed. But
there are multiple reasons. And the trees are falling because of
urbanization, the hard ground(tar,concrete) reduces soil strength.
Overall the report is incomplete.
Bangalore Development Authority should take steps prior the monsoon
season. They already knew that was about to happen, could have been a
much better situation if proper steps had been taken. well, better late
then never :) .
Metro should be made available to Public ASAP .... :)
Please Email the Editor