Deluge highlights BBMP’s failures: Heavy rain exposes city’s vulnerability

NT Bengaluru: Heavy rains caused widespread disruption across the city on Sunday evening and Monday morning, leading to severe waterlogging, damage to businesses, and infrastructural collapse. Areas such as SP Road, Chickpet, and KR Market were severely affected, with water levels reaching up to 3 feet, flooding streets and entering shops. Business owners expressed their frustration as they faced significant losses due to the water damage. In Chickpet, a wholesale cloth merchant explained that his business was heavily impacted when floodwaters inundated his shop. "The water level was almost 3 feet high, and we sell fabric. The rain has caused a massive disruption to my business," he said. A stationary shop owner in the same area also reported huge losses after rainwater damaged textbooks, notebooks, and other craft material, leaving them unsellable. On SP Road, a computer repair shop owner revealed that the rain had ruined several computers that were in for repairs.

"Waterlogging spoiled the systems, and we’ve lost more business than we can recover," he lamented. Similarly, at KR Market, both flower and vegetable vendors saw their goods spoilt by the flood water, resulting in heavy losses. Street vendors, many of whom rely on daily earnings, were devastated. "We had only this source of income, and now it's gone," one vendor cried. The rainfall also caused damage to infrastructure. Near the Gavigangadhareshwara Temple, a wall collapsed due to the rains.