Rains bring traffic to a crawl in Bengaluru; cabs and autos hard to come by

Bengaluru: The aftermath of the downpour on Monday was visible on the streets the next morning, as traffic crawled across the city. Hosur Road and the Electronics City elevated flyover were temporarily closed for vehicle movement.

At 9 am on Tuesday, the Bengaluru Traffic Police chief M N Anucheth put out a notice saying that, due to heavy flooding, Hosur Road was temporarily closed between Silk Board and Roopena Agrahara. “The elevated flyover is also closed. Commuters are advised to use alternate roads,” he wrote. It was reopened for traffic around 10:40 am.

Slow-moving traffic due to water logging was reported at the Iblur junction towards Sarjapura Road, Kasturi Nagar towards Tin Factory, Hoodi bridge towards the circle, Goraguntepalya towards Muthyalamma junction, Puttenahalli main road towards Kothanur Dinne Junction, Mysore Road toll gate towards Hosaguddadahalli junction, Jayadeva hospital towards East End Circle, Varthur Kodi junction, Cottonpet and Sulthanpet Circle, Bilekahalli towards G D Mara, Sarakki junction, Queens Road and Anil Kumble Junction, and Silk Board metro station towards HSR Layout.

Ayappa underpass in Madiwala traffic police station limits was inundated, so was Roopena Agrahara on Hosur Road.

Ongoing metro work at the Outer Ring Road worsened the problem. Traffic movement at Salem railway underbridge and vehicles from Mahadevapura towards Marathahalli and in the opposite direction was slow.

Flood hit places such as Sai Layout, HRBR layout are returning to normalcy.

Cabs and autos hard to come by

On Tuesday morning, residents across various localities struggled to get autos and cabs to get to work.

A corporate employee from Koramangala spent an hour in an unsuccessful attempt to get a can to his office in HSR Layout. “There wasn’t much surge pricing, but despite trying for an hour, I had no luck in getting a cab or auto,” shared Akash Jain. The auto fare was priced between Rs 125 to Rs 150.

Residents in Okalipuram struggled to get autos to M G Road and Domlur - the fares with a 40 to 50% surge charge were around Rs 150 and Rs 200 respectively. Residents near Hebbal too continue facing similar issues.

Cab services were restricted in waterlogged areas such as HBR layout since early Monday morning. “Most companies stopped servicing this part of town, as it was risky to get cars in and out. Some bike taxi drivers tried to access the area but struggled,” shared Sangeetha Bhat, who resides in 5th Block.

A private cab sharing company providing services to Kempegowda International Airport said bookings to the airport were down by 60% since Monday.

A tree fall on Infantry Road, near the department of information and public relations office, around 10.15 am, brought traffic from Queens Road to a standstill. Buses and other types of vehicles were redirected onto Cunningham Road to join Cubbon Road, which caused some confusion and noisy chaos.

Slow-moving traffic could be seen outside St John’s Hospital.

Bad road conditions on the Intermediate Ring Road, near Ejipura flyover construction site, compounded the issue. The construction site has cement piles and blocks of metal haphazardly placed. Pools of water collected on the road and vehicles waded through them.

Shacks still partially sunk in water

Shacks dotted across the Bus Depot Road in Wilson Garden experienced flooding on Monday morning with water levels reaching up to hip level. “We were stuck, the roads were flooded and so was our home. We couldn’t get out. Spent the entire night holding the kips up so they wouldn’t drown,” said Bharti, a 35-year-old labourer who moved to the locality 6 months back. Some shacks still remained filled with water up to ankle level. The entire stretch was dotted with plastic waste and debris as a result of the drain pipes located near the shacks overflowing.

Kengal Hanumanthaiah Road saw slow-moving traffic with rainwater filling up potholes across the stretch.

Residents grapple with rain

Residents of Koramangala 1st block, 4th cross, were stuck camping on their terrace on Monday, from 3 am to 3 pm, as rain water flooded homes, reaching up to knee level.

“We moved our mother and kids upstairs to the terrace. The rest of us tried collecting and throwing out the water using buckets. It is over four hours to get all the water out and clean the house,” shared Bhagyalakshmi.

Another family on the same lane has temporarily shifted from the ground floor to the top floor for the entirety of the monsoon season. “There are three senior citizens in this house, we can’t take a risk in this situation where the ground floor ends up flooding beyond knee level,” shared a 67-year-old resident.

The residents also share that the BBMP is yet to visit the neighbourhood to check the water logging problem this year.

Mini Thomas, a teacher and resident of 4th Cross Road, Jakkasandra Layout, Koramangala 1st block, adjoining the ST Bed Layout, said that she and her son took leave from work to clear the water that gushed into their ground floor on Monday morning.

“We’ve lived here for 20 years. For the first 10 years there was no issue, then some private builder began building homes behind us, which raised the ground level. All the floodwater mixed with sewage flows to our homes,” she said.

Her home was one of many in that area that had muck left behind after water entered their compounds.

“We had to change the sump water.. we might have to replace it, but that will be very expensive,” she added.

The situation at Silk Board Junction, near the Central Silk Board metro station, saw some improvement on Tuesday afternoon. Local workers said that it was much worse in the morning, with the water logging reaching the junction underneath the flyover. Water levels had receded after an earthmover cleared a pathway for the sewage-mixed water to flow towards the large drain at the junction but smelly muck remained near the metro station.