BENGALURU: A day after a spell of heavy rain caused much chaos in the city, including flooded roads, fallen trees and poles, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) chief commissioner Tushar Giri Nath said water had entered 20 houses in Mahalakshmi Layout and five houses in D J Halli.
The city received 50 mm of rain between 3.15 and 4 pm. In Mahalakshmi Layout, repair work on a rajakaluve is being taken up and, as a result, water entered 20 house while one person died in the flooded underpass at KR Circle. The BBMP is now conducting an audit of all the 18 underpasses, including railway underbridges, he said.
Giri Nath said that on Sunday, the rain was accompanied by windspeeds of 30-40 kmph causing leaves to fall and clog the drains at underpasses, resulting in flooding. Also, flowing water from other parts have caused flooding. Wherever the police identified sensitive and very sensitive spots, repair work has been taken up and 115 spots have been fixed while 25 remain, he said.
“We are constantly taking up work and clearing encroachments on rajakaluves. There are court cases in relation to 607 locations on rajakaluves and encroachments have been cleared at 500 spots. All encroachments have been cleared in Mahadevapura”, he said.
Meanwhile, in Rajajinagar, the occupants of a Toyota Innova MUV had a miraculous escape after a huge branch of a tree came crashing down just a couple seconds after the vehicle had passed. The incident occurred at Bhashyam Circle.
An old building collapsed in Vidyaranyapura in Bengaluru after heavy rains lashed the city on Sunday, officials said. No casualties were reported, officials added.