Fear of water-logging haunts city residents as parts of Bengaluru sees intermittent rains

Bengaluru, Sep 13: Days after remaining cloudy, most parts of Bengaluru received intermittent rains on Tuesday evening. However, the fresh showers has created a fear among residents living in low-lying areas of severe waterlogging once again.

While in some areas the stormwater drain work has already begun yet the the ghost of prolonged waterlogging which occurred last week still haunts the residents of many areas in Silicon valley.

The city had just got some relief from rain over the last few days and many people were seen going back to the office on Monday after switching to work from home the last week following inundation in the area following a downpour.

Karnataka CM assures time-bound completion of stormwater drain work

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai assured the government will ensure a time-bound completion of the stormwater drain work that is underway across the city and provide more funds for this purpose.

The master plan for stormwater drains is being redrawn to increase its capacity, Chief Minister said in the state Assembly.

Demolition drive continues in Bengaluru

Meanwhile, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) has started the demolition drive to remove illegal structures in Mahadevapura zone. The massive flooding in parts of Bengaluru, particularly the information technology corridor and arterial roads, was blamed on such encroachment. Portions of some bungalows in the posh locality were partially damaged in the drive.

Some residents in the layout alleged that only poor people are targeted whereas the stormwater drains encroached by the "high and mighty" in the posh layouts and major IT parks have been spared.

The BBMP identified at least 10 places in the Mahadevapura zone, which were choking the flow of rainwater, including a building, playground and garden of a prominent private school which encroached stormwater drain.

Several rivers in spate in Karnataka, following heavy rains

Several rivers in Karnataka are again in spate following heavy rains in their catchment areas as well as in the upstream in the neighbouring Maharashtra, officials said on Tuesday.

Krishna, Bhadra, Tunga, Bhima, Ghataprabha, Malaprabha, Markandeya Hiranyakeshi and several other small rivers and rivulets are "swollen and flowing dangerously", sources in the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre said.

According to them, the affected districts are: Belagavi, Bagalkote, Vijayapura, Chikkamagaluru, Uttara Kannada and Kodagu. The sources said Gokak town in Belagavi and parts of Bagalkote are flooded due to torrential rains in parts of Maharashtra. Sources said 11 gates of Bhima Barrage were opened and over one lakh cusecs of water released. Similarly, the Hidkal dam gate has also been opened releasing over 28,000 cusecs of water from it.

Reports said water is overflowing in many bridges in Chikkodi, Ramadurga, Nippani and Khanapur Taluks in Belagavi district, Mudhol Taluk in Bagalkote district, and Honnavar in Uttara Kannada district. Landslides were reported in some parts of Charmadi Ghat, according to officials.

More rain in store for Bengaluru?

As per India Meteorological Department (IMD) a well marked low pressure area over central parts of Madhya Pradesh persists and it is likely to move nearly northwestwards across Madhya Pradesh during next 24 hours.

The weather department also predicted that an upper air cyclonic circulation is likely to form over North Bay of Bengal along & off north Odisha-west Bengal coasts around 18th September, 2022.

Under the influence of the above systems, light/moderate rainfall with isolated heavy falls and thunderstorm/lightning very likely over Coastal Andhra Pradesh, South Interior Karnataka and ghat areas of Tamilnadu on 13th and over Coastal Karnataka in the next 24 hours.