Bengaluru floods: Blame game continues as city remains waterlogged | 10 updates

Rain has been relentless in the Karnataka capital since Sunday, submerging a few areas in the east and north parts of the city while disrupting vehicular movement and causing traffic congestion for miles.

Waterlogging, inundated roads, overflowing lakes and uprooted trees are some of the looks that Bengaluru city is sporting on Tuesday. Here is a round-up of the impact of rain in the IT city in 10 points:

Bengaluru city was brought to its knees as it grappled with heavy rain for the second day. (ANI)

1. Relief measures: Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday announced a ₹300 crore relief fund to tackle flooding in Bengaluru as rain continued to batter the city, bringing daily life activities to a complete standstill. Bommai also assigned one more company of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) for the city, allotting ₹9.5 crore for boats and other equipment for rescue activities.
2. Amount of rain received: Bengaluru city received as much as 131.6 mm of rainfall in a 24-hour period ending Monday morning. The most-affected zones in Bengaluru were Bommanahalli and Mahadevapura. Bommanahalli saw 219 per cent more rainfall than normal between September 1 and 5 as it recorded 80mm as against the normal of 21 mm. Similarly, Mahadevapura recorded 104mm rainfall during this period as against the normal of 27mm. There are at least eight localities that have received over 200 per cent more rains this September, BBMP chief Tushar Girinath said. Sunday was the wettest day this month since 2014, when the city registered 132.3mm in a 24-hour period.
3. Experts view: Experts in urban and town planning have recommended revamping the entire stormwater drainage system across the city while clearing encroachments of valleys and lakes and regulating expansion. A performance audit report tabled in the legislative assembly said that 1,225 encroachments out of the total 1,988 identified by the BBMP, were declared to be removed. Bengaluru's size has more than tripled in just over a decade while its population has more than doubled since 2001. There is a crucial need for Bengaluru's administration to, therefore, be prepared for more exponential growth in both the city itself and its constantly growing needs.
4. Bengaluru's drinking water supply to be hit: The T K Halli unit of the Bengaluru Water Board in Mandya, which manages the drinking water supply for the city, was flooded after heavy rain and around 50 areas in the city are likely to see an interruption in drinking water supply today and tomorrow.
5. Forecast for the rest of the week: The city can expect more showers, according to the weather forecast. Thunderstorms with lightning are likely at isolated places over the state, the KSNDMC said, while the Met department predicted very heavy rains to continue over the southern state in the coming days.
6. Officials deflect blame: While citizens waded around the city in knee-deep water and faced the brunt of civic apathy, officials pointed fingers at the previous government, with CM Bommai saying flooding and other problems in Bengaluru are due to the "maladministration and totally unplanned administration of the previous Congress government". “They (Congress) have given a permission right, left, centre (for construction) in the lakes, tank bunds, buffer zones,” he added. Meanwhile, Karnataka's health minister Dr K Sudhakar said the situation in New York will also be the same as Bengaluru if it receives this much rain.
7. Citizens use boats, tractors to get around: Many IT employees took the tractor to work on Tuesday as water levels were yet to go down on the streets. Edtech company Unacademy's CEO Gaurav Munjal took to social media and said his family along with his pet were evacuated from his inundated house on a tractor.
8. Not just loss of property but loss of life too: A 23-year-old woman in Bengaluru was electrocuted in the city's Whitefield area as she tried to cross a waterlogged road and came in contact with a live electric pole. Bengaluru has seen four cases of electrocution in just over a month in April - May, with summer showers claiming another youth's life in a similar instance. 21-year-old Vasant was electrocuted when he came in close contact with a cut wire hanging from an electric pole during rains.
9. Rain knew no VIP culture: Rain spared no one in the Karnataka capital on Tuesday, including the elite and the VIPs, as water flooded into homes and private villas amid heavy rain since Sunday. Amid shocking visuals from across the city, a picture of a private villa's living room in Epsilon, Yemalur, took the cake, showing luxurious furniture and decor half submerged in muddy rainwater. Visuals aired by India Today also showed an underpass 300 metres away from CM Bommai's official residence flooded with rain water and blocked for public use. This was also 200 metres away from former CM Yediyurappa's home, and the area also housed eight cabinet ministers and had an elite golf club on the other side.
10. Bengaluru flooding called for National Disaster Response Force: Two teams of the NDRF were deployed to rescue people from an inundated residential society in Bengaluru. The SDRF and fire services are also carrying out rescue operations, news agency ANI reported. A man, who nearly drowned in the floods earlier, was pulled out of the water just in time, a video shared widely on social media showed.