Heavy rain paralyses Bengaluru's IT corridors; elevated expressway shut for hours

Credit: @mannan_pathan / X

A night of relentless rain from Sunday into the early hours of Monday left large swathes of Bengaluru’s tech corridors under water, crippling daily commutes and throwing normal life into chaos across major IT hubs.

According to a TOI report, key neighbourhoods such as Koramangala, HSR Layout, BTM Layout and Marathahalli bore the brunt of the downpour, with arterial roads and underpasses submerged. The Electronics City Elevated Expressway - a crucial 9.9-km link between Central Silk Board and Electronics City - was shut for several hours due to severe waterlogging, disrupting access to major tech campuses including Infosys, Wipro and Biocon.

With no formal work-from-home advisory from most companies, hundreds of tech professionals were left scrambling. “It took me over 30 minutes just to cross the jam near Electronics City,” an ELCITA (Electronics City Industrial Township Authority) spokesperson was quoted as saying by TOI. They also confirmed that ongoing NHAI work on flyovers further worsened the situation on the ground.

The already notorious Silk Board Junction became virtually impassable. Stormwater gushed through service roads, choking underpasses and blocking movement for interstate buses from Kerala and Tamil Nadu that had queued at the junction.

In Manyata Tech Park, scores of employees arrived only to find entry points submerged in knee-deep water, forcing several to turn back. Photos and videos circulating on X (formerly Twitter) showed marooned commuters and waterlogged office entrances.

One tweet read: “Greedy Politicians and BBMP's Buried lakes in #Bangalore incarnate! Just like Christ’s return to life on Easter day!”

The chaos wasn’t limited to the south and east of the city. A fallen tree near Kalamandir on HAL Road disrupted traffic towards the Marathahalli bridge, while a vehicle breakdown at the Hennur underpass led to a cascading effect across the Outer Ring Road corridor. Flooding near the Agar flyover and the Hennur–Hebbal stretch brought vehicular movement to a crawl, as per the TOI report.

In HSR Layout, a mere 1-km stretch from Agara to Silk Board took some commuters over 40 minutes to cross.

Authorities scrambled to respond. A traffic officer from Madiwala said over 25 personnel were deployed across junctions to manage the gridlock.

Meanwhile, the now-infamous Balagere Road in Varthur lived up to its soggy reputation. Once again submerged following overnight rain, the road was shut until midday. Locals have dubbed it “copy-paste flooding” as an image of the same stretch - identical to last August’s viral photo - resurfaced online.

Parents in the area said they were thankful schools had not yet reopened, fearing more chaos when academic sessions resume from late May onwards.

With no immediate weather reprieve in sight and civic infrastructure straining under pressure, citizens are left questioning whether the city’s tech capital status is being held together by duct tape and hopeful prayers.Ashoka wrote in a post on X.