Apart from exacerbating the city's infamous traffic, the rains have also hit drinking water supply and amplified the threat of disease and infection. What led to this state of affairs in India's Silicon Valley?
Why is the city seeing so much rain this year?
This year, the city of Bengaluru saw 198.5 mm rainfall in the month of June, making it the wettest June on record for the city in the past ten years. It also saw the wettest August in four years and torrential rains in May set the record for the wettest 24-hour period since 2017 for the city. A study by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre titled 'Climate Change Scenario in Karnataka: A Detailed Parametric Assessment', in its conclusion states, "The occurrence of extreme weather events has increased both in terms of frequency and intensity across the state in the last decades. The data shows that the Hydro-Meteorological disasters such as Drought, Flood, Hailstorm, Cyclone, Heatwave, Thunderstorm and Lighting events have occurred in the state more frequently in recent years."
Which parts of the city are worst affected by the rains right now?
The IT sector of Bengaluru contributes almost 40% of India's total IT exports. The companies contributing to this growth are located in what is known as the IT corridor in South-East Bengaluru are the worst hit by flooding due to the rains. The Bengaluru-Mysuru highway, the Outer Ring Road, the Bellandur-Marathalli stretch and Rainbow Drive in Sarjapur are some of the roads that have been inundated, and now, reports suggest that this has caused the city's IT firms to lose Rs 225 crores due to employees being stuck in traffic for five hours.
What aspects of life are the rains impacting?
Videos and pictures of people wading through chest-high waters, and roads quite literally flooded, with vehicles submerged and boats being deployed to help people out have gone viral on social media. While traffic has been brought to a standstill, creating issues for office-goers and forcing schools shut in the worst affected areas, people's homes and shops have also been flooded. The Rainbow Drive Layout witnessed the death of an 86-year-old resident who couldn't access medical aid in time due to the flooded roads.
While power outages have been reported after trees fell on almost 15 electric poles and one power station in Kadubeesanahalli gave out due to flooding. The rains last night flooded the crucial Kaveri Pumping Station in Mandya district, which supplies potable water to the city. With the pumping station out of order, the drinking water supply will be cut off for two days, impacting more than 50 areas.
What accusations does the city's municipal corporation face?
Corruption and environment-unfriendly city planning are being cited as the reasons for the flooding in a city that is rich with lakes. Dense construction around huge lakes such as Bellandur Lake, Halanayakanahalli Lake, Kaggadasapura Lake at the cost of blocking/reducing the width of the natural lake drain systems known as Rajakavules has resulted in lakes breaching their banks and resulting in flooding. Corporators in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) are accused of corruption and bad city planning and development, which has brought Bengaluru to its knees.
