After another night of heavy rainfall on Thursday, residents in several parts of the city woke up to inundated roads and homes.
Residents of ST Bed Layout and Koramangala 4th Block, who had just recovered from the inundation on August 15, once again had sewerage water entering their homes at night. The water receded by morning.
The city recorded 72 mm of rainfall Thursday night, with the highest amount of rainfall received at Bommanahalli Gottigere (116 mm), according to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) control room received many distress calls from citizens. They received complaints of water logging from Anand Nagar, Bommanahalli, Koramangala, HSR Layout, Shantala Nagar and R.T. Nagar.
Residents in Koramangala 4th Block are angry that despite assurances from civic agencies, Thursday night saw a repeat of the flooding on Independence Day.
Many spent a sleepless night as water rushed into their homes, damaging furniture, bedding and appliances.
Sprinklers being used at Bellandur lake to control foam that increased following heavy rain, in Bengaluru on Friday. | Photo Credit: K_MURALI_KUMAR
Atul Modi, a businessman who lives in Koramangala 4th Block, said his entire living room and kitchen were submerged with just a few hours of rain. “There was three feet high water on the street last night, and my car got damaged due to the rain,” he said.
Residents claim that recent work by civic agencies were to blame for the situation. “A few months ago, the 6-inch sewage pipeline that runs under the stormwater drain was replaced by a 12 inch pipeline,” said Ramesh Reddy, another resident of the area.
“The BBMP claims to have spent crores to repair the SWD, but in the last few years, just a retaining wall, that too of poor quality has come up. Neither has dredging been done nor has garbage been removed from the drain,” said Mr. Reddy. He added that sumps in the area were filled with contaminated water.
Chief Engineer (SWD) H.T. Bettegowda said that water had overflowed from portions of the retainer wall which were opened for repairs.
“We have removed silt from portions of the drain and cleared obstructions in some parts to enable water to clear from the streets. Work on the retaining wall is in progress . If work is not interrupted by rain, we will complete reinforcing of the wall within 15 days,” said Mr. Bettegowda.
A few days ago, a group of residents wrote to the BBMP Commissioner seeking compensation for flood-related damage.
BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad said the BBMP would examine their claims before coming to a decision.
Foam drifts into houses again on Bellandur lake
Foam began to rise again on Bellandur lake on Friday morning and sprinklers were used to control it. “The foam is quite high and is drifting into nearby apartments,” said Seema Sharma, member of the Bellandur Lake Committee. She added that water level in the lake had also increased considerably.
“We have put 106 sprinklers to diffuse the foam. This situation is under control now,” said P.N. Naik, Chief Engineer, Bangalore Development Authority.
A couple of houses and a Devi temple on Tank Bund Road near Bellandur lake were flooded due to dumping of debris around the road. Pappamma, a 65-year-old woman who has been looking after the temple for 45 years, said the that initially the temple was built on a bund surrounded by fields. “After people sold off the lands around, and started dumping mud around, the water has no place to go,” said Pappamma.