Bengaluru flooded after cloudburst in possibly wettest day ever

The Outer Ring Road, major arterial roads and large swathes of Bengaluru have flooded once again after torrential rains pounded the city on Sunday night, in what may turn out to be a cloudburst on the wettest day on record for the city.

Weekend outings turned out to be a nightmare for thousands as traffic crawled on waterlogged roads and cab and auto drivers refused rides. Tree falls were reported from at least three places, including Adugodi and Tannery Road.

The Outer Ring Road has flooded once again near the RMZ Ecospace technology park, just days after witnessing some of the worst waterlogging in recent memory.

So great was the force of rainwater that it gushed into some stations as choked manholes overflowed.

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“I have not seen such heavy rain this monsoon,” said Nataraj K, a resident of Mahalakshmi Layout. The manhole outside the metro station, he said, was overflowing with full force. Rain-struck passengers had to take shelter on the stairs of metro stations.

The thunderstorm began around 8 pm and lashed almost all parts of the city.

Whitefield, Gottigere, Bannerghatta Road, Vijayanagar, Rajajinagar, Basaveshwar Nagar, Yeshwantpur, Peenya, Laggere, Nandini Layout, Malleswaram, Seshadripuram, Hebbal, Sanjaynagar, RT Nagar, Nagawara, Hennur, Banaswadi, RR Nagar, Kengeri, Deepanjali Nagar and Chamarajpet were some of the worst-affected areas, though the list is not exhaustive.

Rainwater was more than three feet deep in the railway underbridges at Majestic, Okalipuram and Kasturinagar. The floodgates opened into shopping streets such as Avenue Road, BVK Iyengar Road, KG Road, and Shivajinagar. Many apartment complexes were also flooded.

A report said some parts of Whitefield had received 116 mm of rain at the peak rate of 221 mm per hour.

The met department has forecast moderate to heavy rainfall in Bengaluru until September 7.