BENGALURU: Residents of Kendriya Vihar apartment complex were unable to enter their homes, such was the extent of waterlogging in Yelahanka as rain lashed the area through Sunday night. Several areas around Bengaluru similarly faced the brunt on Monday morning. Teams from the Fire and Emergency Services, SDRF and NDRF were deployed with boats to rescue people stranded in the apartment complex.
Basavaraj Gugwad, a resident, said when it had rained on Friday, there was 2ft of standing water which had to be drained out. On Sunday night, water rose to 4.5 ft and gushed into homes on the ground floor, in the complex of 603 flats. Government teams supplied food and water to the residents. The residents blamed BBMP for poor management, and said that overflowing of lakes and clogged drains have led to the damage.
Yelahanka MLA SR Vishwanath told TNIE that the complex was constructed on a portion of storm water drain around 20 years ago, and the area was also a paddy field. Now, residents are not allowing staffers to undertake inspections, which is making matters worse.
Vishwanath said flooding was not only due to silt and garbage accumulation in drains, but also because the inlets and outlets of lakes are narrow. Citing the example of Yelahanka lake, he said the inlet is just 8 feet wide, and the unprecedented rain of Sunday night could not flow into the lake, leading to flooding.
He said a discussion was held with BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta and it was decided to construct a 33-ft wide drain, using TDR from Yelahanka to Jakkur lakes. “We cannot pump the water out as it is continuously flowing in. We are hoping the rain will subside or there is no rain for 1-2 days,” he said.
A picture taken at Manyata Tech Park showed two people hoisting a net into the waterlogged streets to catch fish. Colonel Ramachandran, a resident of Defence Enclave, next to the park, said, “The water is at three or four feet now, it’s entered all our houses and our furniture is damaged. I had to take the engineers to the rajakaluve by tractor.” The rajakaluve had been overflowing with no respite, despite a fire tender being discharged.
RAIN WOES
City: 5.2mm
HAL airport: 1.4 mm
BIAL: 6.2 mm
GKVK: 123.8 mm
KSNMDC observatory: 148mm (15cm)