BENGALURU : Heavy rain coupled with thunder and lightning lashed the city on Tuesday evening leading to waterlogging in many localities, especially low-lying areas around Chandra Layout, BTM Layout, Bannerghatta Road, Jayamahal Road and South Bengaluru.
Metro train operations on the Green Line came to a standstill for 15 minutes. BMRCL MD Anjum Parwez said, “Our transformer on Peenya side tripped because of tripping of the KPTCL transformer on Puttenahalli side. It was restored later.”
A spokesperson of the Bangalore International Airport Limited said, “Two Indigo flights, one from Rajahmundry (6E 7232) and another from Kolkata (6E 264) coming to Bengaluru, were diverted to the Chennai International Airport.”
400 calls flood control room
A BBMP staffer at the head office control room said that in just two-and-a-half hours, he received over 400 calls and the phones continued to ring. “We have no time to coordinate with each other. In each control room, five staffers are receiving calls, which are not ending,” he added. Same was the plight at all the control rooms in the eight zones.
Many citizens complained that they were not able to get through to the control room and it was continuously busy. Waterlogging was reported from Nagarbhavi, Hosakerahalli, Peenya, Dasarahalli, Mahadevapura, Kalkere, Banaswadi, BTM layout, Koramangala 3, 4, 5th Blocks, Bannerghatta Road, Sampangi Ramanagar, Halasuru, Banaswadi, Majestic and Cottonpet.
BBMP control room staffers said basements of almost all the apartments were flooded. Pumpsets were deployed to drain out water from homes and basements. Fire department officials said that all their staffers have been kept on alert. Power cuts of over two to three hours were reported from most parts of the city. The control room also received several calls of trees falling around the city.
Fortunately, there were no casualties. Indian Meteorological Department officials said that most parts of the state will experience pre-monsoon thundershowers for the next two days. Heavy rainfall warning has also been issued for many parts of the state. The traffic was thrown out of ge a r i n Koramanga l a , Malleswaram, Jayamahal, Cauvery Junction, Shivananda Circle, KG road, Bannerghatta Road and JC Road.