A day after Sunday's heavy rain and gusty winds, the city is still assessing the damage wreaked by nature.
Several areas in Bangalore East were plunged into darkness as there was no power supply from 4 p.m. till the next morning, while a few felt they were lucky to have even low voltage.
Gusty winds wrenched electric wires from poles, leaving them hanging dangerously on the roads. On Thippasandra Main Road, a fallen tree hindered traffic movement all day. The bus stop there remained unusable as cable wires had fallen on it.
Cables were damaged on HAL Airport Road as trees fell on them. Several trees were uprooted on the Inner Ring Road and Defence Colony areas as well.
Vehicles moved at a snail's pace on Old Madras Road over the lumpy, slushy surface caused by ongoing works by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). A fallen tree on the service road in front of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) complex forced traffic to take a deviation to reach the main road.
BWSSB's incomplete works also caused problems on the stretch between Cubbon Road and Central Street, where a Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation bus got stuck in residual mire on Sunday as the roads have not been re-tarred.
On the other hand, Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation's shoddy work in filling potholes and ditches with mud left commuters using the road between Ashirvadam Circle and St. Mark's Road grappling with rising tempers and painfully slow going traffic.
Trees were uprooted in the spaces allotted for parking on Kamaraj Road and in Rajajinagar Second Stage, where a pavement collapsed due to the rain. The Railway Parallel Road in Kumara Park was blocked the entire day as no one had cleared a fallen tree.
Cooke Town resident N. Ramesh said 12 trees were uprooted in his area, damaging electric lines. His own compound wall was damaged by a falling tree. A car was damaged on Banaswadi Road in a similar fashion.
Bad maintenance
“I've been a resident here for several decades and I've never seen trees being uprooted this easily. This trend started only 10 years ago as the trees that are planted are not protected properly. Road widening, cementing the area close to the trees and other similar activities are damaging the roots, making the trees weak and vulnerable,” said Mr. Ramesh.
Compensation
Meanwhile, Mayor S.K. Nagaraj visited Ullala Basti, where 40-year-old Anjanamma was killed when a portion of a compound wall collapsed in the rain. Transport Minister R. Ashok announced Rs. 1 lakh compensation to the family. The Mayor handed over the cheque to her husband Shivaraj, according to a Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike spokesperson.
