BENGALURU: No rainbow yet. Intermittent rains continued to lash the city on Tuesday, not giving citizens any respite from pre-monsoon misery. The Sun peered through the dark clouds post-noon for a brief while. Several parts of the city witnessed rain in the morning, disrupting the daily rhythm. People were seen wading through the flooded roads and struggling to walk on the submerged footpaths.
Vendors selling perishable goods and flowers across the city, including K R Market, Madiwala and Sarakki, complained that their regular business took a big hit due to incessant rain.
Stranded residents of Sai Layout in K R Puram, which has become synonymous with flooding, were supplied food and drinking water by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). The civic body’s Health Department officials conducted a free health camp for the residents, supplied different types of medicines to the residents after checking them. They were given medicines for fever, skin rashes, itching and allergies among others.
Operations by the BBMP, National Disaster Response Force and others continued on Tuesday. Compared with Monday, due to the continuous operations, water level in the flooded layout had come down and the BBMP officials expressed confidence that waterlogging will be cleared if there are no rains on Tuesday night.
Silk Board Junction had become a swimming pool and Hosur Road, the gateway to Tamil Nadu and Kerala, including the Electronics City flyover, was completely stopped for traffic for a few hours in the morning.
Transport Minister and BTM Constituency MLA Ramalinga Reddy and BBMP Chief Commissioner Maheswar Rao inspected the Silk Board Junction and discussed with the officials the measures to prevent flooding.
Rao said that as the inflow of rainwater was heavy, the junction was flooded and added that the stormwater drains (SWD) needs to be redesigned in the area to prevent flooding in the future. He also held an online meeting with the officials of the eight zones in BBMP.
In Bommanahalli’s Anugraha Layout, pump sets were deployed to flush out rainwater. In BBMP West zone, Special Commissioner Suralkar Vikas inspected K R Market and directed that the flooded parking lot in the market be cleared of rainwater.
In Rajarajeshwari Nagar BBMP zone’s Jawaregoudanadoddi area, as the shoulder drains were blocked, the area was flooded. Roads were dug up in the area enabling the flood water to flow.
In Indiranagar, rainwater entered the homes and basements of a few buildings. Angry Indiranagar residents staged protest, slamming the BBMP which had claimed that there was no waterlogging in the area. The protesters placed chairs in the middle of the flooded road, read newspapers, sipped tea and exchanged words with each other, indicating that everything was normal despite sitting in the middle of water logged road. They also took the BBMP officials to task, who visited the area to assess the situation.
BMTC bus depot in Shantinagar which was flooded on Monday, was flooded again with knee-deep water, with the bus crew finding it difficult to get the buses out for duty.
Parts of Bannerghatta Road, Hosakerehalli, Tavarekere, Wilson Garden, Shanthinagar, Cottonpet, K R Market, Sultanpalya, Sarakki, BTM Layout and other areas were flooded on Tuesday too. Huge trees fell in Chamarajpet, Cantonment, Infantry Road, Girinagar, among others, affecting the movement of people and vehicles.
“Bengaluru is predicted to witness heavy rains accompanied by winds till May 22. All officials should be alert and ready. The public is advised to be cautious and call 1533 to lodge any complaints”, said the BBMP Chief Commissioner.