Follow TNM's WhatsApp channel for news updates and story links.
On Monday, May 19, morning, Bengaluru woke up to streets inundated with water, trees uprooted and fallen. The residents of several slums in western Bengaluru had been up all night, watching in dread as water kept inundating their houses, coming up to knee-level in some areas. Even as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister visited a tech park and other inundated areas in the city, families living in these slums are struggling to get help.
Slums in western Bengaluru such as Anjappa Gardens, Siddhartha Nagara and Bakshi Garden were badly affected. Water entered several homes, and residents were seen using buckets and utensils to scoop it out. Many said this was not the first time their homes had flooded, but the intensity of this spell caught them off guard.
Chenamma, an elderly resident of Vinobha Nagar slum, stood ankle-deep in water, raining bucket after bucket from inside her home.
In the low thatched, partially flooded hut, where she lived with her daughter and three grandchildren, she felt helpless and infuriated. She was fighting a losing battle–the water kept flowing in, even as she tried to drain it out with a small bucket.
A 10-month-old infant lay in a cradle, the flood water almost reaching her bed. Every other household appliance they had was left damp and possibly damaged beyond repair.
Their monthly ration had been hastily stacked on top of a small cupboard in a desperate attempt to keep it dry. With almost all the groceries soaked and the kitchen flooded, the children had had nothing to eat all day when TNM visited their house on Monday afternoon.
This is not just the story of one household, almost every home in Vinobha Nagar is facing a similar crisis. The heavy downpour in Bengaluru on the night of May 18 led to severe water stagnation on the roads, but the greater concern for the people in these areas, is the water inundating their homes.
While men leave for work, it is the women and children who bear the brunt of the situation.
Jancy Rani, project coordinator at Mahila Slum Sanghatane, told TNM that no elected representative had visited the affected slums, despite the scale of the damage.
"It’s the same story every year. When people are wading through water and trying to save their belongings, no one shows up," she said. Jancy added that repeated appeals to civic authorities have gone unheard. "People here are tired. They clean up after every flood, rebuild what little they have."
Sandhya, another resident and mother of three young children, said she was unable to go to work at the garment store where she works. She had already lost a day’s wages due to flooding and the weather prediction is that the city will receive rainfall for a few more days.
“The rain washed away our ration and left our fridge and washing machine wet and damaged. My three children didn’t sleep all night. We were up trying to push the water out,” she said. “If it rains for even two hours straight, water enters the house. We have nowhere to go. The children are falling sick. We need to take them to the hospital, we have rent to pay, and yet, we’re stuck here, unable to go to work.”
She also expressed frustration with the lack of support from civic authorities. "The BBMP doesn't do anything to help. When we go to them during rains, they just say, ‘What can we do? It's raining.’ Other times, they don’t act at all because they don’t see a problem."
Local leader Ramu criticised the civic authorities, saying, “The BBMP and other authorities have done absolutely nothing. People are left to fend for themselves. The situation is spiraling out of control.” They had been working for hours, manually trying to unclog drains.
Shanti, a vegetable vendor, also spoke to TNM, expressing distress over her losses. “There is no safe place to store vegetables. With the stagnant water and constant rain, most of them get spoiled, and I have to throw them away. If this continues, I won’t be able to continue selling at all,” she said.
Adding to the crisis is the scarcity of safe drinking water due to the stagnation and unhygienic conditions, as several residents pointed out.
In an effort to stop the spreading of diseases such as dengue and malaria due to the stagnation of water, health officials from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) were conducting inspections around the slum areas.
One of the officials said, “If we find larvae in the water, we will remove the stagnant water or add chemicals to kill the larvae, which will prevent the breeding of mosquitoes, but the chemical has no other harm.”
A local activist that TNM spoke to confirmed that no politician had visited these areas.
Orange alert
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) extended its orange alert across Karnataka, forecasting continued rainfall until Tuesday, May 20. While the intensity of the rain is expected to decrease by Tuesday, southern Karnataka, including Bengaluru, the orange alert remains until Thursday for northern Karnataka. Earlier, IMD had issued a yellow alert for Bengaluru till May 24.
Heavy rainfall lashed most parts of Bengaluru from Sunday evening to early Monday morning, with Rajarajeshwari Nagar recording 132 mm, the highest in Karnataka for the day. Several neighbourhoods across the city received over 100 mm of rain.
In addition to RR Nagar in south Bengaluru, parts of north Bengaluru were also severely affected. Vaderahalli recorded 131.5 mm, Chikkabanavara 127 mm, and Somashettihalli 119.5 mm. The lowest rainfall in the city was 32 mm at Gottigere, according to data from the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Cell.
Sri Sai Layout in Mahadevapura zone was among the worst-hit, completely inundated after the downpour. Two boats from the State Disaster Response Force were deployed to rescue stranded residents. Waterlogging was reported in around ten areas within Mahadevapura alone.
In the RR Nagar zone, five cattle died after stormwater reversed flow due to rising levels in the Vrishabhavathi River. Water entered 12 homes, which were later cleared. In the East zone, several blocks of HRBR Layout, Byrasandra Layout, and a few low-lying roads were submerged. The BBMP deployed six teams equipped with earth movers and pumps to drain the water.
The Yelahanka zone saw all 29 of its lakes filled to the brim, the BBMP said in a statement.
With this latest spell, Karnataka has already received more than twice its average rainfall for the period between May 1 and May 19. Bengaluru Urban district, which normally receives about 100 mm during this time, has recorded over 235 mm as of Monday morning, May 19.