Ministers visit rain-hit areas

Several areas were submerged due to overflowing drains and foul smell emanated from the rotten substances in the houses and pothole-ridden roads on Saturday morning.

The ministers first visited the railway underbridge near Kino theatre at Seshadripuram where traffic had been severely hit and a KSRTC bus was submerged. They directed officers to ensure proper flow of rainwater.

The residents had to drain the knee-deep rainwater using pumpsets at the basement of their Greenfield Apartments in Akki Thimmanahalli. Their vehicles were found inundated in the stagnant water.

The ministers were in for a shock to see accumulation of silt and debris at the BMTC office in Shantinagar on Double Road. He asked “is this a garbage yard that they have strewn so much waste here?” Arrangements were made immediately to clear the garbage.

The area in front of the BMTC office also looked nothing less than a dump yard with the accumulation of sewage-mixed rainwater and slush. A compound wall had also collapsed near the KSRTC housing quarters.

Gayathri, a housewife complained that they had been facing the same problem for the last 26 years. “Every year, our house gets flooded when it rains. We had to spend the entire night trying to protect our belongings,” she said.

The houses have a two-foot wall in front of the doors to prevent rainwater gushing in. She said: “Old people will have tough time crossing the wall. Despite the all, rainwater floods the house.”

Minister Ashoka assured her that the building, which is dilapidated will be razed down and construct a new building. Besides, he said, the drains will be widen to ensure proper flow of drainwater.

Several areas in the worst-hit Ejipura water was stagnant up to five feet and houses on the either side of the stormwater drains were completely submerged. Clothes and household items were found floating in the water. A resident, Irshad said: “There was a flood-like situation as the water entered the houses. We immediately grabbed the children and rushed to the nearby high rise buildings.”

Ashoka assured them of initiating measures to desilt the stormwater drains immediately.

Devastating Friday rains

* 106 mm rainfall in one hour
* Heaviest rainfall in short duration in the last 10 years
* Residential houses flooded in 87 places
* 26 trees uprooted
* Compound wall collapsed in three places