BENGALURU: Heavy rain affected normal life in many parts of Bengaluru on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Houses and residential complexes were flooded, a compound wall collapsed damaging many two-wheelers, 15 trees were uprooted, 44 branches fell, and many roads became rivers leading to bumper-to-bumper traffic stretching for kilometres after the city received heavy rain on Saturday night.
Kendriya Vihar apartment in Yelahanka that houses thousands of residents was flooded with knee-deep water. Preethi, a resident of the apartment and was seen carrying instant food packets, said, “There is no electricity and water supply due to flooding. Many cars and vehicles are submerged. We are helping each other till the situation improves.”
Volunteers loaded a tractor with milk packets, water bottles and bread packets and distributed them to the residents. The BBMP said the apartment was flooded as the 50-foot compound wall between the apartment and Yelahanka Lake collapsed.
BBMP officials and gang men and personnel from the National Disaster Relief Force and fire department were seen pumping out water from the apartment complex.
BBMP said the apartment is located 25 feet below the lake level and that is the reason it gets flooded frequently. Residents demanded a permanent boundary wall around the apartment.
In Madhuvana near Vijayanagar, over 10 houses were flooded as the sewage line overflowed. The recently inaugurated Palike Bazaar too was filled with water. In Binnypet, a seven-foot high compound wall of Park View Apartment fell on many two-wheelers, while houses nearby were flooded with rain water mixed with sewage. The wall also brought down an electric pole, which fell on a nearby house and the work was on to clear the damage.
Netizens took to social media sites to slam the BBMP for shoddy infrastructure. They wondered how Brand Bengaluru can be built when the city cannot withstand less than one hour of rain. The Electronic City toll plaza, Nayandahalli, Kalyan Nagar, Bellandur and Hebbal were some of the areas that were flooded, leading to traffic gridlock.
BBMP officials said the majority of problems were reported from Bengaluru South, West and Yelahanka zones, while other five zones faced not many issues.