Sudden rain exposes poor drain desilting

A two-wheeler stuck on an inundated BTS Road, Wilson Garden, in Bengaluru on Wednesday night. DH PHOTO/S K DINESH

Heavy rainfall left parts of Bengaluru flooded late on Wednesday night.

The downpour, coupled with lightning, was centred around southern western, northern and central Bengaluru. Sources in the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) said the Doresanipalya campus of the Environmental Management and Policy Research Institute (EMPRI) in southern Bengaluru received 70 mm of rain in less than two hours.

Lalbagh, Jayanagar, Basavanagudi, Vidyapeetha and Kathriguppe (all in South Bengaluru), RR Nagar in western Bengaluru and Malleswaram and Mahalakshmi Layout in northern Bengaluru received moderate to heavy rainfall.

KH Road, Vittal Mallya Road, Lalbagh Road and Airport Road saw motorists wading through pools of rainwater. The sudden rainfall exposed the laxity of BBMP officials and the poor desilting of drains. Several manholes on Kasturba Road and Lalbagh Road were found choked with garbage and debris.

Sources in the BBMP control room said no major damage was reported until midnight and that Prahari staff in the zonal offices were on high alert to attend to distress calls.