Heavy rain in Karnataka: Roads, basements flooded in Bengaluru; IT firm employees take tractors to work

Waterlogging led to traffic jams and disruptions in the lives of normal people in several parts of Bengaluru.
One of the locals in the Koramangala area said that waterlogging had taken place due to heavy rainfall, making driving very difficult. "Too much rain has taken place. We woke up in the morning and saw that waterlogging had started. Water on the road had come up to the level of the divider. After that, we started pumping water out of the road and basement. My whole basement has got submerged under water," a local resident told ANI.
Many of the places in the city basements of shops and apartments got flooded. A local said, "It happens whenever it rains. It has been raining heavily this year. Those who have shops in basements are in trouble."
Meanwhile, citizens continued to face difficulties and roads, streets, posh localities continued to reel under water. Expensive top-end cars and vehicles lying under water, even in areas that have luxury villas, was a common sight.

Many IT professionals in India's silicon valley got a new experience and resorted to tractors to reach their workplaces, thanks to the waterlogging.
Yemalur which is close to the HAL Airport has been submerged in water. Many employees of IT companies living in the area took tractors to reach their office.
"We cannot take so many leaves from the office, our work is getting affected. We are awaiting tractors to drop us for Rs 50," a woman working in an IT firm told ANI.

When one of its buses that left the campus could not even reach its first stop after 45 minutes, GEAR Innovative International decided that was it. The school called all its buses back and informed parents that classes would move online.
GEAR was one of the many schools in the city that had to call off physical classes at the last minute on Monday. Like GEAR, some of them went online in the wake of the rain-related chaos.
While attendance was good in online sessions, many students had to battle power and network issues at home. Some others attended classes from neighbours' houses. "Attendance was good but some children spoke about waterlogging in their apartments. A teacher reported that one of her students said water reached as high as the first floor. He was feeling unsafe because he lives on the second floor," said Nooraine Fazal, founder, Inventure Academy.
"The attendance in online classes for grades 1-2 was 70% and for 3-5, 80%. Rest of the grades had good attendance. Considering there could be power or internet problems, I had guided the staff to conduct activities that are enriching and to do with skill enhancement and not to take up much of academic content as many may not be able to join," said Reshma Ganesh, founder principal, Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir, Bangalore East.

Drinking water supply to nearly 80% of Bengaluru city will be affected over the next two or three days as Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board’s (BWSSB) Cauvery water pumping unit at Torekadanahalli (TK Halli) in Malvalli taluk in Mandya was submerged under 20 to 25 feet of flood water, rendering the machinery defunct.
BWSSB officials said of the five pump sets, two are completely submerged in water that gushed into the station located about 90km from Bengaluru.
TK Halli is where Cauvery river water is lifted and treated before it is pumped to various parts of Bengaluru and distributed in six phases. Incidentally, Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) said TK Halli area received the highest rainfall in Karnataka on Sunday night —18cm of rain - fall pounded the locality.
The sudden downpour and the flooding that followed meant Bengaluru will be without drinking when residents are likely to need it the most since sumps in residences in many areas were flooded with filthy water in the deluge. Now, residents will be without fresh water.
Worried over the development, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai cancelled all his scheduled events and, together with engineers, rushed to the pumping station to assess the damage.

Another local said that this situation happens yearly and they have to pump out water due to a poor drainage system.
"This happens every year, waterlogging takes place after the rain and we have to pump out water. There is no permanent solution. When the road was being made, the drainage system wasn't prepared well. It leads to many difficulties for the public, many women have actually slipped and fallen into the water," a local said.
Earlier in July, Karnataka suffered heavy floods due to rains, after which rescue missions and relief work had to be carried out. Chief Minister Bommai also had to seek financial assistance from the Centre.

Tweeple don't mince words. When an overnight downpour led to a deluge like situation in the country's IT hub, Twitterati did not hold itself back and fired from all cylinders. From plain angst to quirky sarcasm or questioning the authorities, many Twitter users were at their creative best, some quipping "Bengaluru is Venice now" while some others rued the eroding green cover leading to new civic challenges.
"Who needs a wonderla, a water amusement park when entire #bangalore can we be water park! Thanks for #bbmp , it takes lot of efforts and dedication to turn a city into a floating city!" a twitter user going by the name "anonymous!@Died_Democracy" said in a tweet.
Anirban Sanyal, another twitter user, shared a picture of a water-logged city airport, and had a swipe at the state of infrastructure.
"State of affairs in #BengaluruAirport today. I feel like crying seeing the state of infra in India. This is beyond shame," he said in a tweet.
Karma@iambhutia touched upon the 40 per cent commission charge against the ruling BJP.
"When contractors have to pay 40% cost of project as bribe to the ministers and officers - this is what you get," the user said, while uploading a picture of vehicles wading through an inundated road.
Chetan Krishna @ckchetanck said, "thanks to bbmp and @BJP4Karnataka now every apartment in Bengaluru is a lake view apartment.

A 23-year-old woman died after accidentally coming in contact with a live electric pole in Bengaluru. The incident happened at around 9.30pm on Monday near the Whitefield area in Bengaluru.
Akhila was returning back home from her workplace when her scooty skidded while crossing a waterlogged road. The victim tried to grab a nearby electric pole for support, but she got an electric shock after which she fell down.
She was shifted to the hospital, where she was declared dead. Akhila used to work in the administration department of a school.

Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday accused the previous Congress government for the current situation in the city.
Speaking to reporters here, Bommai said, "Karnataka especially Bengaluru has received unprecedented rains. This kind of rain has not come in the last 90 years. All the tanks are full and they are overflowing. There is continuous rain. Even today it is raining."
Bommai accused the previous Congress government for the present situation in Bengaluru. "This happened because of maladministration and totally unplanned administration of the previous Congress government. This is the result of the bad administration of the Congress government. They never thought of maintaining the lakes. They gave permission right, left and centre in the lakes and buffer zone," he said.
The CM said that there is a perception that the entire Bengaluru is in a problem. but that is not true.
"The entire Bengaluru is not in problem. The problem is in two zones, particularly Mahadevapura. The condition of Mahadevapura is because of 69 tanks in the small area. All are overflowing. Further, all the established is in low-lying areas. And there has been encroachment," he said.

As torrential downpour continued to create havoc in Bengaluru, Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai said the government has decided to release Rs 300 crore to manage the flood situation in the city.
The CM chaired a meeting with senior ministers and officials in the night to take stock of the rain and flood situation in the state, especially the capital city, and the damages caused.
The state government has decided to release Rs 600 crore to manage the rain and flood situation across the state. To restore damaged infrastructure like roads, electric poles, transformers, schools etc, Rs 300 crore has been kept for Bengaluru alone, Bommai said.
A total of Rs 1,500 crore has been allocated for construction of storm water drains in Bengaluru, Bommai said, adding the work will begin once the water recedes.