Bengaluru, 18 May

Even before the monsoon has officially arrived, City found itself underwater, thanks to the unpreparedness of the civic authorities.

With just a few hours of heavy rainfall, large swathes of the City, particularly low-lying areas like Hebbal, KR Market, Shivajinagar, Govindaraj Nagar, and Nagawara, were reduced to islands amid a sea of administrative apathy and civic negligence.

Power outages gripped many parts of the City, with residents in Bengaluru North and East division reporting disruptions or no electricity for over 24 hours. BESCOM officials claimed workers are "working round the clock", but the reality for residents is grim.

At KR Market, the streets resembled a lake by Monday morning. "There’s half a foot of water on the road. I had to push my bike like a cart," said Javed Ahmed, an auto driver. "We are not angry at the rain — we are angry at the system."

Meanwhile, in Hebbal, a KSRTC bus narrowly avoided tragedy when a tree crashed onto it, thanks to the driver’s alertness. "If I hadn’t braked in time, it could have been a disaster," he told Salar News.

"No one from the BBMP or other agency shows up until some tragedy happens," said 55-year-old Zulekha Banu from Shivajinagar.

Why Bengaluru floods: Neglect, garbage and dug-up roads

Clogged drains, poor desilting efforts, unscientific white-topping projects, and years of civic neglect, especially in slum and low-income areas are obvious causes of City’s now-regular flood horror. Many drains in the City’s older neighbourhoods haven’t been cleaned for over a year, residents claim.

"There has been no real infrastructure work done in the last year," said Ravi M from Govindaraj Nagar. "All they’ve done is dig roads to lay cables, then leave them in worse shape than before. Every corner has become a dump yard."

In East Bengaluru, areas like Banaswadi, HBR Layout and Kamraj Nagar witnessed reverse flow from stormwater drains, inundating homes and roads alike. Emergency teams were deployed with pumps and tractors to flush out water, but residents spent the night bailing water out with buckets.

In South Bengaluru’s Madiwala, Koramangala and Ejipura, narrow culverts connecting K-100 and K-200 drains couldn’t handle the volume, flooding homes and submerging parked vehicles. "Our bikes were floating like boats," said Devraj, a resident of Ejipura’s Grape Garden area.

The situation was no better in West and North Bengaluru. In Rajarajeshwari Nagar, five cattle died due to backflow in Vrishabhavathi Valley. Around 100 homes in Kote Layout, Kengeri, were inundated. 

Choking traffic and fallen trees

Citywide, 27 trees and 43 branches were brought down by the storm. Thirty BBMP teams were dispatched to clear debris. But the damage was done: long traffic snarls were reported on Silk Board Junction, Viveknagar Main Road, and Nayandahalli underpass, where a BMTC bus and two other vehicles broke down in standing water. The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company "Our bus was stuck at Shantinagar depot for six hours," said Manjunath, a BMTC staffer. "The depot itself was underwater."  Another Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus broke down near Silk Board Metro Station causing a massive traffic jam in the afternoon rain. Residents are now demanding accountability. "The Congress government didn’t do a single road repair last year. They only dug up roads and left us with potholes and puddles," said Nandini, a schoolteacher from Nagawara. "Do we need to buy boats to travel in the city now?" she asked.