Citizens’ pain: Heavy rain creates havoc in Bengaluru

Water takes hours to recede from roads; almost all low-lying areas flooded

The heavy rain that lashed the city on Tuesday night left most low-lying areas and even key arterial roads inundated, throwing life out of gear. It was only by Wednesday evening that water on the roads receded or was pumped out, which essentially meant traffic snarls through the day.

The retention wall of Vrishabhavathi valley on Mysuru Road breached in some locations leading to flooding. Many SWDs overflowed and flooded streets.

With water levels not receding even the next day, civic and fire officials had to deploy motors to pump out water.

Sources in the Fire and Emergency Services said they had deployed men and machinery at over 40 locations, including Basava Layout, Horamavu, Pai Layout, and Doddanekkundi Road to pump water out from the streets and basements.

“The rate at which the water receded has been very slow, as most stormwater drains are full, their retention capacity reduced, and the water is not flowing into them. At many places, works are under way in the drains, blocking entry points,” explained a senior fire official.

Similar was the situation on even many TenderSURE roads, like the UB City street that saw almost waist-level water. Many of the recently done Smart City roads also saw severe waterlogging.

‘Run-off’