Bengaluru is facing the brunt of heavy rainfall coupled with infrastructure failure. Heavy rains over the last two days have inundated parts of the city, especially near Outer Ring Road and Sarjapura, the IT hub of the city.
Premika Thirumur resides at a luxurious villament in Yemalur in East Bengaluru. On August 30, she came to her villa to find it completely waterlogged in waist-deep water.
The apartment she resides in has eight villas, with one condo across two floors. "Just after the incident, everyone was evacuated," she added. While some residents chose to stay at friends' places, at least two families had to move to hotels. "I have been staying away from my home for at least a week now. And seeing the water level inside the apartment now, I am not sure when I can return," she added. At the time of writing this report, Thirumur was waiting for a boat to be able to enter the apartment to recover some things.
Residents in the complex said after the recent downpour, the area was completely submerged with water gushing into their apartments. "We have managed to shift all our things to the top floor," she added. Almost all residents have left today, water is two-three feet deep outside and four-five feet inside, she said.
After two days of rainfall, Bengaluru witnessed several luxury cars floating across 'Billionaire Street'.
Saurabh Tingal, an IT professional and resident of Rohan Jharoka apartment, just a stone's throw away from 'Billionaire Street' in Yemalur, said flooding in the area has been an issue for some years now. "Every time it rains, our apartment gets flooded," Tingal added, who is also a board member of the association.
Currently, Rohan Jharoka has 11 blocks and three villaments. "Last night and even the previous night, water had gushed into our basements. However, we have pumps that can pump out the water within a couple of hours," he added. Residents say if such are the conditions in big apartments, what would be the state of standalone buildings near the waterlogged streets?
Epsilon, home to Bengaluru’s corporate honchos such as Rishad Premji, Byju Raveendran and Varun Berry was also flooded and many residents had to be rescued in boats. Unacademy’s Gaurav Munjal posted a video of his evacuation in a tractor.
According to Zapkey.com, villas worth Rs 8 to Rs 15 crore have been sold to major start-up founders in the posh Epsilon Villas project. These have been sold to Kabir Lumba (Lifestyle); Umang Bedi (DailyHunt | Verse Innovation) and Abhinay Choudhari (BigBasket).
Zapkey data shows that 11 sale transactions worth Rs 57 crore were transacted in these projects in 2022. Leading startup CEOs/professionals and VCs own homes in Divyasree 77 Villas. These houses are in the range of Rs 3.5 to Rs 8 crore. Vivek Sinha (COO, Unacademy), Vishal Bali (Medwell Ventures) and Sudhir Kumar Sethi (Chiratae Ventures) have units here.
Damages incurred cannot be recovered
Tingal said that after one night of rain, at least 60 vehicles were damaged, including high-end and luxury cars. "Approximately, after just two nights we have sustained damage of Rs 1.5 crore. However, the government or the builder will not help us recover the money," he added.
For Thirumur, her fridge, furniture, and television are among some of the things that got damaged due to the waterlogging. "I run a small business of event organizing and all my props got damaged. I must have incurred a loss of at least Rs 6 lakh," she added.
Dr. Ravindar, a resident of T-Zed Homes in Whitefield, said, out of 15 villas, almost 13 have been flooded, and more than 50 vehicles damaged. "Some vehicles are in such a bad state that they cannot be repaired. For some owners the cost can go up to Rs 1 lakh," he added.
Another resident, Vikrant Patel, said, "We feel lost currently. Three of my vehicles, including two cars and a motorbike, have been damaged." Patel added, "After speaking to service centres and insurance companies, it looks like I have to write-off the vehicles." Today, Patel said he needs to pump in Rs 30 lakh more to get new vehicles in future.
On Sunday night, Chandrajit Debnath, Senior Analyst Design Engineer at Texas Instruments, was driving his luxury car when the water level suddenly started to rise in Bellandur. Scared of being stranded on the road, he decided to enter Adarsh Estate villament, where he was surprised to see the water level even higher. There he waded through waist-deep water to reach the basement and call for help. His car remained stranded in the area for more than 24 hours while he sought refuge at a friend's place in one of the villas. "Today, I will have to shell out Rs 5 lakh in addition to the insurance to get my car back," he added.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Monday night that the government has agreed to provide Rs 300 crore to manage the flood situation in the city as the torrential downpour continued to wreak havoc in Bengaluru.
Not just residents, business at a standstill
Anudeep Nagalia, Co-founder of Kriyafit, said, "The flood not only impacts the lives of the people but also halts the city economy." Adarsh Palm Retreat in Bellandur, where Nagaliya stays, also houses Eco-World, one of Bangalore's large-scale commercial projects. He said, "After a little rain, Adarsh Palm Retreat gets flooded leading to severe movement restrictions around Eco-World."
In fact, Nagalia said, last Sunday his wife, also an employee at Eco-World, was left stranded in the building after heavy rain."Especially, when Bellandur gets flooded, like this time, the entire area goes into a standstill. The businesses catering to last-mile deliveries are most affected. In our office, people are not able to work from the office and the time taken on the road becomes significantly high." Holistically, Nagalia added, the flood might have caused damage of at least Rs 2 crore each day to Adarsh Palm Retreat in the last two days.
According to Krishna Kumar, General Manager, Outer Ring Road Companies Association, flooding between August 30-September 1 led to losses of Rs 225 crore. Employees were stranded on the road for more than five hours.
Poor infrastructure the culprit
Tingal said the area has four major gated communities and three smaller residential complexes flushing out water into three stormwater drains. "Also, the stormwater drains have been encroached in recent years, thanks to illegal constructions," he added.
Experts pointed out that water from these stormwater drains flows through a major canal, ending up in Bellandur lake. However, during rainfall, as Bengaluru recently witnessed, water from the lake flows back flooding the entire area.
A study conducted by Dr. T.V. Ramachandra, a scientist at the Indian Institute of Science, states that stormwater drains connecting Bellandur lake from the city market side have been narrowed to 28.5 metres against the original width of 60 metres. This increases the city’s flooding vulnerability at times of intense rainfall, coupled with the increase in paved surfaces.
For Thirumur, the land level for her complex is lower than the stormwater drain, leading to the backflow of water into the apartment. "We did request the authorities for the past couple of months. However, there’s been no respite," she said. Both Ravindra and Premika claimed that though the fire brigade team has assessed the area, no major help was received to pump the water out of the apartment.
However, a team of Good Samaritans has been working relentlessly for the last two days to rescue people and provide relief to stranded residents across Bengaluru. A team comprising Manju Mehra, Manohar, Kalyani, Manjunath, Pawan and Amar, said the situation is much better now in Yemalur and Bellandur areas with the main problem being waterlogged apartments than the street.
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