Incessant downpour since Tuesday evening drenched the city and surrounding regions, besides flooding low-lying areas by Wednesday morning.
Parts of Kanakagiri and the streets adjoining Yelethota were inundated. The overflowing water from the drains gushed into several homes in Kanakagiri.
It was around 5 a.m. when there was a sudden surge in water inflow and people woke up to find themselves in knee-deep water. As the flow continued unabated, residents had a torrid time flushing the water. The rate of inflow outpaced their efforts, forcing residents to retrieve their belongings and move a couple of streets located at a higher level.
Nearly 750 houses were affected and Sri Chamundeshwari Temple located in Kanakagiri was also flooded. There was a breach in the compound wall of a school which resulted in the accumulated water to gush into the roads.
“It was around 4.30 a.m. that we saw a surge in water and immediately alerted the authorities concerned. It is the first time in the last 30 years that we have witnessed anything like this,” said Somashekar, a local resident. Though Kanakagiri has grown in recent decades and there are nearly 7,000 houses, there is no storm water drain to divert water to the adjoining water bodies on the outskirts of the city, he added.
Echoing this, another resident Mahadevaswamy said that large swathe of land where water used to accumulate and allow permeation had been taken over for construction and hence water flows from Yelethota and Ramanuja Road to Kanakagiri area.
Mysore City Corporation (MCC) authorities visited the spot, but the local community pointed out that permanent infrastructurce by way of storm water drains and providing linkages to the drainage system was essential.
The visit by MCC personnel will not bring us any relief as no ad hoc measure can be adopted to divert the water flow at this juncture. “We can at best hope for the water to recede,” residents said.
The rains that began around 6 p.m. on Tuesday continued unabated till around 8 p.m. and subsequently there was incessant downpour till 6.30 a.m. on Wednesday.
