Rain uproots 95 trees, turns temple into stinking cesspool

Pre-monsoon showers thoroughly expose city's infrastructure

The heavy rainfall on Saturday night uprooted 90-95 trees and branches in various parts of the city. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) received at least 82 flood-related complaints between Saturday night and Sunday. Sixty-three of these complaints were from Bommanahalli zone in southern Bengaluru.

Rainwater mixed with sewage from a nearby drain gushed into the 100-year-old Dattatreya temple in Hosakerehalli on Saturday night. To compound the problem, the retaining wall of the stormwater collapsed, and with it dirty water streamed into the temple, turning the place of worship into a cesspool. A strong unpleasant smell filled the air. The water level in the temple stood at six feet.

The dirty water was pumped out by municipal workers and emergency services personnel on Sunday. Gaganadutta, who works in the temple, said the absence of proper drainage in the temple caused the inundation, and estimated the damage at Rs 1 crore.

Trees or their branches were uprooted at Ragi Gudda slum in JP Nagar 2nd Phase, Basaveshwaranagar, HSR Layout, Uttarahalli and JP Nagar among other places. BBMP officials said they were attending to all the complaints and 63 temporary control rooms had been set up in the past week to address rain-related grievances.

The compound wall of Singapore Gardens, an apartment complex at Gubbalala on Kanakapura Road, collapsed following the rainfall. The wall of a stormwater drain at D’Souza Nagar in Banashankari was washed away.

As many as 17 electricity poles broke off in Bescom’s North, South and West circles. On Sunday, the utility agency registered 1,840 complaints related to low voltage, power cuts and broken electricity poles among others.

‘Helpline dysfunctional’

Residents complained how the Bescom helpline had become dysfunctional. “There was no power on Magadi Road between 7 pm and 11 pm on Saturday. I tried calling 1912 but no one returned the call. The SMS service (58888) and other helpline 9449844640 were not working either,” said Ramesh Kumar from Magadi Road.