The downpour on Tuesday night brought misery to many low-lying areas in the city as roads were severely inundated and many houses were flooded with water up to 3 feet high.
Among the worst-affected places were Mysuru Road and surrounding areas such as Nayandahalli, Rajarajeshwarinagar, and Hosakerehalli. At some of these places, water had not completely receded even by Wednesday afternoon.
As water entered houses in low-lying areas, residents had to struggle even for basic things, like food and water, on Tuesday night. While they could not cook at home, even food-delivery apps stopped taking orders once the rainfall intensified.
“We could not even use the washrooms as sewage came through the drains,” a resident from near Lalbagh said.
The continuous rain also meant long power cuts, which left people with no charge in their phones to coordinate for water clearance and other problems in many areas.
Residents and small business owners in low-lying areas in Ideal Homes, BHEL Layout, and Gokula Layout were spending their morning hours emptying water out of their buildings.
Fire and Emergency Services personnel pumping out water from the basement of an apartment in Sanjaynagar on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN
The Twilight Tandoor restaurant in BHEL Layout had to close down at 9.30 p.m. on Tuesday as up to 2 feet of water entered, the employees said. “From the morning, we have been clearing this rainwater. If it rains again, we do not know what to do,” a housekeeping staff said on Wednesday.
At ‘Giddu’s garage’, a popular car service centre in R.R. Nagar, a tired Giddu explained how he has to now bear the repair costs of seven to eight cars which sank yesterday as the wall of his garage collapsed.
There were also some apartment complexes where the parking lots were inundated on Tuesday night, residents reported. Many roads in R.R. Nagar were slushy, making it difficult for the pedestrians to walk on Wednesday.
BESCOM vans were also moving around in the area to take care of the damage from the previous night. According to the power utility, its helpline number 1912 received 13,734 calls on Tuesday night and 13,165 were pertaining to power cuts. In Bengaluru Metropolitan Area Zone (BMAZ), 107 feeders were affected.
Although water had receded in the Nayandahalli junction by morning, a part of the road had caved in near one of the metro pillars. “On Tuesday night, cars were actually floating on this very same road. I had to wait for more than an hour to reach the destination,” said a cab driver on Mysuru Road.
The motorists had to carefully manoeuvre the roads leading to Hosakerehalli from R.R. Nagar as they were filled with huge potholes and were waterlogged on Wednesday.
The Pramod Layout near PES University was another area which was badly affected. “This has become a monthly occurrence now. Whenever there is heavy rain, the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Cross Roads here face the same problems. BBMP officials come here and pump water out and go on the next day. But they do nothing to avoid the problem for the next time. Sometimes sewage water also comes in through chambers. Water enters our compounds and our vehicles get submerged. That is why as soon as rain gained momentum, we shifted our vehicles to higher level roads nearby,” said Krishnappa, a resident.
Resident welfare associations from across the city were furious at the civic administration in the city for not coming up with a long-term solution to these problems.
Representatives of HSR Layout, Koramangala, HRBR Layout, Hennur, and Garuthman Park had the same complaints and demands. “During the monsoon, the BBMP officials and politicians make spot visits and give assurances, but throughout the year, they stay only as assurances and nothing gets implemented,” said a representative.
