Flooded roads and water rushing into homes, electric poles and trees falling, traffic coming to a stand still and power cut marked another day of heavy rains in the city on Wednesday, reported Kannada Prabha.
Amidst all this chaos people still rushed to travel to hometowns for Gowri Ganesh and the Majestic Kempegowda bus stand saw a sea of commuters stranded. Traffic heading towards Majestic came to a stand still till midnight. Two wheeler riders were standing in knee high water.
The hour long downpour inundated several houses in Mahadevapura and Bommanahalli and over 25 houses were almost submerged. The families spent the entire night clearing the water. Lakshmana Murthy Nagara in Mahadevapura region 8 houses were submerged. In Doddanekkundi, Talacauvery Layout and Horamavu 18 houses were water logged. Houses in HSR layout 2nd stage, Adigas Hotel road, Empire Hotel Road also saw flooding. BBMP called fire fighting team to draw out the water.
In Domlur a huge tree came crashing down, cutting electric cables causing a power shut down the entire night. In Jayanagara, R V Dental College area, Padarayanapura, Devaiah Park, Gayatri Nagara and other places witnessed crashing down of huge trees, hitting traffic flow. The locals assisted the BBMP staff in clearing the fallen trees. It was a similar scene in Gayatri Nagar. Locals helped BBMP staff in clearing a huge tree that fell on the road.
The stretch in front of Mantri Mall in Malleshwara was water logged, bring traffic to a halt. Water logging brought traffic to a halt also in K G Road till Corporation, from Goodshed Road to Mysuru Circle, Race Course Road, Kumara Park Road, Malleshwara, Okalipura.
Almost all parts of the City received heavy rains measuring 20mm to 37mm said State Natural Disaster Management Centre. K R Pura received the highest rainfall of 86 mm, lowest being Huskur with 52 mm rain.
The heavy rains have exposed the bad quality of road laying done recently in the City at a cost of Rs 900 crores. In 2015 3 bike riders had died due to running into potholes. In one year 17 two wheeler riders had succumbed to potholes. Hence the BBMP had spent Rs 900 crores for repairing, filling up potholes and laying new roads. However, one heavy rain of the century on Tuesday has proved that the quality of roads are very poor. Most of the newly laid roads are full of potholes. Several accidents reported are caused due to the motorists trying to avoid the potholes.
The BBMP Commissioner has ordered to draw an Action Plan to repair roads in Rajajinagara, Majestic, Gandhi Nagara, K R Market, J C Road and surrounding areas. It can be recalled that during the administration of BBMP 906 potholes in 279 roads were discovered within 3 years of laying the roads. The contractors were fined Rs 1000 for one road Rs 4000 for 2 potholes and Rs 8000 for 3 potholes. It was the only way to curtail poor quality roads being laid, it was said.
Heavy #rains at #Marthahalli pic.twitter.com/eqCDMIJ7Li
— Bengaluru Weather (@BngWeather) August 23, 2017This is how Bengaluru is receiving rains from August 15:
Overnight heavy rains wreak havoc in Bengaluru https://t.co/Fxxw38HpYe
— Bengaluru Weather (@BngWeather) August 15, 2017
One strong spell of #BengaluruRains has exposed the crumbling infrastructure of our city! @CMofKarnataka @thekjgeorge @BBMP_MAYOR pic.twitter.com/XgGfqaznBS
— Dr. Ashwathnarayan (@drashwathcn) August 15, 2017