A night's rain washes away a lifetime's savings

Deprived of sleep and with no roof over their head, the residents of Bhavani Nagar spent the entire Wednesday night scouring for their belongings.

For Gowdaiah, who runs a flower shop in Nagasandra, nothing is left in what he once called home. Even before he realised what happened, he saw floodwater gush in through the window of his house. His children let out a shriek, fearing they would drown in their house. "Everything was washed away. There's nothing left," he sighed.

Gowdaiah said that as the water level started to rise, he tried opening the door but there was no power. He somehow moved towards the door, hanging his two screaming children on his shoulders. But the door would not open because of the strong water pressure. "It's a miracle that I escaped from there," he said.

Manjula and Srinivas, who live just a few blocks from Gowdaiah's house, had to cut short a trip to their hometown near Tumakuru. But when they returned to their neighbourhood, all they could do was park their vehicles far away from their house and reach the place on foot. The house was marooned.

"I cannot tell you what we are all going through right now. We are exhausted as we didn't sleep and our entire house is flooded. We have lost all our valuables. TV, refrigerator, vehicles, electronic goods... everything is gone. We don't even know what we will eat today," Manjula said.

Pallavi, also from Bhavani Nagar, said she could never forget "that horrific moment". Her one-month-old baby was sleeping next to her when the floodwater gushed into her house. She assumed it was some air mishap. Pallavi and her husband immediately opened the door and ran out along with their baby.

Mayor M Gowtham Kumar and BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar have asked the local revenue officials for a report on the damages to the properties. Based on the assessment of the damage, the BBMP has promised to compensate the affected families.

Each house is estimated to have lost at least Rs 50,000 worth of valuables. Some lost valuables worth lakhs of rupees, including cars and two-wheelers.