IMD issues orange alert for Bengaluru; Shivakumar says flooding resolved in 70% areas in city

Bengaluru: India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert for Bengaluru and a yellow alert at various places across Karnataka on Tuesday.

An orange alert means very heavy rain of 11 cm to 20 cm, and a yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 6 cm and 11 cm.

IMD Bengaluru Centre Director N Puviarasu said they have issued an orange alert for Bengaluru for the impact 8 cm to 10 cm that will likely affect the big city.

"The amount of rainfall we are receiving is nothing for rural areas. But because cities like Bengaluru are concretised mostly, and thus blocking the outlets for water drainage, we have issued an orange alert so that authorities can prepare accordingly," he said.

According to the IMD statement, areas likely to be affected today are Bagalkot, Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural, Belgaum, Chikkaballapura, Dharwad, Gadag, Kolar, Koppal, Vijayanagara districts.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said flooding issues have been resolved in 70 per cent of the identified areas in Bengaluru.

Shivakumar, who visited the affected areas in Bengaluru, including Sai Layout, Manyata Tech Park and Silk Board Junction, on Monday told reporters that they had identified 210 areas as flood prone in city.

"Ever since I took over as the Bengaluru Development Minister, we have fixed flooding issues in 166 (70 per cent) of those localities. Flood prevention work is currently going on in 24 areas while work would soon be taken up in the remaining 20 areas. We have built 197 km of storm water drains," he said.

Taking to his 'X' account, Shivakumar said rain is controlled by nature and they are trying to "control the controllables".

"We are rectifying flood-prone areas and are trying to help the common people. Quantum of rainfall has been very high in Silk Board junction, Hebbal and Yelahanka area. Underpass works are underway in a couple of places in these areas and they have been flooded. We will work with those departments to resolve these issues," he added.