It’s a tale all too familiar for Bengaluru. After heavy rains lashed the city on the night of Sunday, September 4, water in several lakes breached the boundaries and flowed into residential areas surrounding them. Bellandur, Hallenayakanahalli, Varthur lakes are some lakes that have breached after rains pounded the city overnight.
This is the second time in the past two weeks that lakes in Bengaluru have overflown. As Bellandur lake overflowed due to the rains, road connectivity to Outer Ring Road (ORR) from the alternate HAL road has been disconnected. In Varthur, after the lake overflowed onto the roads and caused major flooding, boats and canoes had to be deployed to transport people.
Inflatable boats were deployed to rescuee people in on the Balagere-Panathur road near the Sekhar Bellevue appartment as there was knee-deep water. A video from Whitefield Main Road, near Varthur, also showed a group of people trying to push a bus that had been stranded in the water.
#bengalururains
— Anant Patil (@ADnant) September 5, 2022
Whitefield Main Road, near Varthur pic.twitter.com/UoLRNFFlzZ
Visuals from Bellandur area — around Bellandur lake — showed water gushing out of the fence around the water body. The water flowed onto the streets, completely flooding the area and inundating the roads. The Hallenayakanahalli lake overflowed and water from the rajakaluve (stormwater drain) connecting the Hadosidapura lake and Halenayakanahalli also flowed onto the streets after it reached capacity.
@CMofKarnataka current situation of Bellandur where you visited last week. This is how @BBMPCOMM have taken care of the rain water pic.twitter.com/Lug1MotLT6
— Swati (@swati2022sinha) September 5, 2022
According to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), Bellandur, Hallenayakanahalli, Varthur recorded 67.5 mm, 74mm, 83.5 mm of rain, respectively, over the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, Bengaluru city recorded 131.6 mm of rainfall, as per India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Many parts of Bengaluru have come to a standstill following heavy rains, as many residential areas and arterial roads have been inundated. Lakhs of vehicle riders and drivers had harrowing time reaching their offices. The Ecospace, hub of IT companies in Marathahalli in Bengaluru, is also inundated with water causing inconvenience for the movement of software professionals.
HAL Airport Traffic police have issued a traffic advisory of heavy water-logging near the Eco World and Outer Ring Road traffic movement is very slow. "Travellers be aware of this. Our staff is clearing the traffic, if it is possible please avoid this route," the advisory released on Monday says. Kala Krishnamurthy, DCP Traffic (East) has stated, "Commuters before venturing out today (Monday), expect slow moving traffic in a lot of places in the city because of continuous rains and water-logging. Please plan your travel accordingly. Traffic police are on their job, easing and regulating the traffic," she stated.
The Outer Ring Road Companies Association has already sent a memorandum to the Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai complaining about crumbling infrastructure in the stretch which houses hundreds of top IT and BT companies and warned him that tech companies will have to move out if the government turns a blind eye towards it.
The Silk Board Junction, one of the major junctions connecting the Electronic City, one of the major tech-hubs of Bengaluru, is also facing the problem of water-logging.
The villages in border district Chamarajanagar are facing the threat of floods as a result of heavy rainfall. The rains have been lashing the border district since Sunday evening and continued on Monday as well.
In addition to Bengaluru, a yellow warning has been issued to Bengaluru Rural, Chikkaballapur, Chikkamagalur, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Hassan, Kolar, Ramnagar, Kodagu, Chamarajanagar, Mandya, Mysuru, Shivamogga and Tumakuru districts.
With IANS inputs