Residents wake up to see their streets disappear under water

Anand Theertha, a resident of KAS Officers Layout that is located close to Madiwala Lake, was all set to head for his office on Friday around 9.15 am. As he stepped out, he saw the whole road near his place flooded and the compound of his home inundated with five to six inches of water.

He was not alone. Thousands of residents were stranded after Madiwala Lake breached its bank after overnight rainfall. Water from the overflowing Madiwala lake waste weir gushed through the surrounding areas in BTM Layout II Stage (from 35th to 42nd main road), Someshwara Colony 1st, 2nd, 3rd cross all the way up to Silk Board submerging the Outer Ring Road (ORR) and leading to hours-long traffic congestion.  Anand said: "We were all taken aback on seeing the flood as we have never ever faced such a problem in BTM Layout. This is the first time, water from Madiwala Lake has overflowed onto streets. My children left home before 9.15 am and are staying at my sister's place in Jayanagar."

Flooded areas
Low lying areas at Someshwara Colony, BTM Layout, Kodichikkanahalli near Bannerghatta Road, Anugraha Layout in Bommanahalli Assembly constituency and other areas in Chikka Begur and Nelamangala were submerged with rain water. Mmany houses and basements of apartments including quarters of the Excise and Revenue department employees were flooded while many roads completely disappeared with no space for vehicles to move. Fire and Emergency Department personnel were deployed to shift many residents, including a pregnant woman,  to safe places in boats. “Our house was flooded two days ago and we are having sleepless nights since then. Our family members have been forced to take shelter in our friend’s house,” Yashodamma, one of the residents said.

Havaldar Anand, another resident of Quarters C-2 block added that as many as 42 houses in the quarters have been affected due to flooding. Many have already shifted to their relatives’ houses. I had no problem as I stay on the second floor. But, there are school-going children and taking them out has been risky, he noted.