Friday night’s nature fury had its effect felt even on Saturday morning as well in the city with the central Majestic area choked with traffic till around 11 a.m.
Partly caused by flooding of roads, traffic jams were also caused due to vehicles that had broken down in the previous night’s downpour. State-run buses were parked haphazardly near the underpasses at Anand Rao Circle and Binny Mills. The roads had been under water for hours, neck-deep in some cases.
It took a couple of hours to clear the jam, which also affected several city services. Kempe Gowda Bus Station was flooded thanks to the silt in the surrounding drains. Several thoroughfares, including Residency Road, Richmond Road and a stretch of Mysore Road, among others, wore a ravaged look.
Instances of vehicles getting stuck in potholes or sunken roads were also reported on Friday night. Elsewhere, homes were flooded in Nagendra Garden in Okalipuram when the drain wall collapsed. Flooded homes and roads and tree falls were reported from across the city.
For R. Prabhakar, a resident of Vishwapriya Layout in Bommanahalli, the rain and flooding that followed were scary. “Water on the road was flowing like a river and we could not even make out the depth. At least seven houses in the neighbourhood were inundated, giving tough time for the families.”
Hierarchy problem
Meanwhile, the State government set up a disaster management committee for Bangalore to be headed by the district in-charge Minister on Saturday after Home Minister K.J. George apprised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of coordination problems with the existing disaster management authority headed by the Deputy Commissioner.
Mr. George pointed out that as the Deputy Commissioner was junior to many other officials, the authority was not functioning effectively. The Chief Minister then sought the constitution of a committee to address disaster management issues.
