Never in his dreams did S. Giridhar, a sales executive, think that the lake near his house would breach and flood his home. But that is exactly what happened on Saturday morning.
At around 6 a.m., the bund of the Gangaiah Chetty lake in Devasandra ward breached and the water flooded nearly 500 houses in Netravati Layout, a low-lying area. The flooding has led to damage of household items, rations and even children’s schoolbooks.
Sohith Seenu, a class 4 student, and Chetan Sai, a class 7 student, were seen drying their books, while their mother Kumari G. was more worried about the rations that had been damaged. “The rice is completely damp. There is no option but to throw it away. Even the sofa cushions and our clothes are ruined,” she said.
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Another resident, who did not wish to be named, said she woke up early to get her children ready for school. “I was making breakfast when there was a stench. I opened the main door to find out where it was coming from and water just gushed in,” she said.
Residents claimed that the lake breach was finally stopped by piling sandbags at the lake.
They claimed that heavy rain over the past few days had led to the breach. They said the water from the lake was being drained out through a pipe connected to a manhole. The pipe got blocked and the rain weakened the bund, causing the breach.
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P.A. Nayak, Bangalore Development Authority’s chief engineer, said the lake was handed over to the BDA from the Lake Development Authority in December 2011. The 18-acre 20-gunta lake was being developed at a cost of Rs. 1.8 crore. The lake development work began around 15 days ago. Soon after getting information of the breach, the authorities used earthmovers to cover it with sandbags and used jetting machines to pump out the water from the flooded homes.