Heavy rains make a comeback in Bengaluru, disrupt normal life

Bengaluru, Sep 27: Life was disrupted as torrential rains lashed the city since last night till early on, as also several other parts of the state. Areas such as Krishnarajapuram, Nelamangala, Koramangala and surrounding areas in the city received more than 180 mm rain. Krishnaraja Puram alone received 196 mm rain.

"It is a record for September that on a single day there was more than 180 mm rain whereas the average rainfall in September alone is 212 mm.. The highest record for this month in the past was 516 mm.. I think that record will be broken," said Srinivasa Reddy, director, Karnataka Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre. Many trees were uprooted, lakes breached their banks, and houses were inundated as rains pounded the city. The waste weir of Dodda Bidarakallu near Nelamangala swept away and water gushed into many areas including a poultry farm killing 10,000 poultry birds, officials said. In Koramangala in the city, many houses, a petrol pump and a Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation bus depot were inundated.

The swollen stormwater drain in Shantinagar flooded the bus depot. Roads were flooded in Madivala and HSR Layout, almost a repeat of July 2016 flooding. This is despite a massive demolition drive last year to remove encroachment of storm water drain in Avani Sringerinagar on Bannerghatta Road, Shubh Enclave and Yelahanka. The city civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was flooded with complaints. Housing Minister M Krishnappa with Mayor G Padmavathi and other BBMP officials toured around the rain affected areas including Attiguppe where the compound wall of a building collapsed damaging many cars.

No loss of human life in the city has been reported so far. Leo Saldanha of Environment Support Group blamed the government and the civic agencies for their "short sightedness" which has been causing flooding in the city. He said the poor approach towards protecting the stormwater drains, lakes and its watershed region has wrecked havoc. He was critical about the remodelling of stormwater drains as it will not serve any purpose.

Meanwhile, rain caused severe damage to the standing crops in many parts of North Karnataka. Rains also played a spoilsport for the historic Dasara celebrations in Mysuru as several parts of the city were inundated.

PTI