Rain fury stumps B'lore again

While it was virtual hell out there for the motorists, the residents of low-lying areas bore the brunt of the deluge, the city’s fragile drainage infrastructure failing yet again.  

Motorists on Race Course Road had to lift road-dividing stones to ease the  traffic jam. A car driver lost control with his car getting stuck in a pit on the side of the road. 

Along Shivananda Circle, a BMTC bus was stuck at the Railway Under Bridge (RUB) as the water level on the road rose. “We had a lot of trouble when it initially rained and had to call in a reserve bus to pull the bus that broke down. The drainage water seeped out from everywhere,” said a traffic official.  
A compound wall collapsed and fell on the vehicles parked near it at Ulsoor Gate area due to the heavy downpour. Four vehicles which were parked nearby got damaged, police said. However no causality was reported.

Trees fall

As many as nine trees fell including two in Indiranagar, two in Byatrayanpura, one each in RS Palya, HAL 2nd Stage, Sultan Palya, Kumara Park and Sadashivnagar.

Rain water mixed with drainage entered Vivian Castelino’s house in Ashwini Layout in Eijipura.  Vivian made several attempts to call the control room, but there was no one to respond.  According to Federation of Residents Welfare Association of Ward 68 “Forward 68” Secretary M V K Anil Kumar, a pump was recently purchased especially for Ejipura, but it is lying idle. 

Houses flooded

Many parts of Eijipura, Koramangala 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th block were flooded during the rain. The rain fury also did not spare Chamarajpet 4th main, ITI Layout on New BEL road where storm water drain was blocked, Silk Board Junction, Byappa Gardens. Water-logging in Jayanagar, JP Nagar and Kamakshipalya.

Power breakdown

In Lingarajpuram, tree falls brought down four poles in a single place, tripping the feeders and taking out power in Jalvayu Vihar, Lingarajpuram and surrounding areas.

In Banaswadi main station, nearly 8-10 feeders tripped. A pole was also broken on Tannery road. BESCOM officials said they had to wait for BBMP to remove the trees, before they could raise the poles and straighten the wiring.

Overall about 10-12 trees fell on various poles and at stations to disrupt power in several areas. Most of the restoration work was expected to be complete by Friday morning.

Several areas like Cox Town, Ulsoor, OMBR Layout, parts of Banaswadi, Kalyan Nagar, HBR Layout suffered blackouts from 6 pm onwards.

Krishnaswamy, a resident of Cox Town  alleged the residents here were unable to reach any officials at BESCOM to lodge a complaint.
DH News Service