Bengaluru on orange alert as heavy rain lashes city, flood fixes underway

Bengaluru: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday issued an orange alert for Bengaluru and yellow alerts for various other districts across Karnataka, warning of continued heavy rainfall in the region.

N Puviarasu, Director of the IMD Bengaluru Centre, said the orange alert was issued in view of the urban infrastructure’s limitations in managing even moderate rainfall.

“The amount of rainfall we are receiving is nothing for rural areas. But because cities like Bengaluru are mostly concretised, thus blocking outlets for water drainage, we have issued an orange alert so that authorities can prepare accordingly,” he explained.

According to the IMD, districts likely to be impacted by the rain on Tuesday include Bagalkot, Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Belagavi, Chikkaballapur, Dharwad, Gadag, Kolar, Koppal and Vijayanagara.

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who also holds the Bengaluru Development portfolio, said that flood-mitigation work had been completed in 70 percent of identified vulnerable areas across the city.

Speaking to reporters after visiting several rain-affected locations including Sai Layout, Manyata Tech Park and Silk Board Junction, Shivakumar said:

“Ever since I took over as the Bengaluru Development Minister, we have fixed flooding issues in 166 (70 per cent) of those localities. Flood prevention work is currently going on in 24 areas, while work would soon be taken up in the remaining 20 areas. We have built 197 km of storm water drains.”

Taking to social media platform X, Shivakumar acknowledged the challenges posed by unusually intense rains in certain areas of the city.

“Rain is controlled by nature and we are trying to control the controllables,” he posted.

“We are rectifying flood-prone areas and are trying to help the common people. Quantum of rainfall has been very high in Silk Board junction, Hebbal and Yelahanka area. Underpass works are underway in a couple of places in these areas and they have been flooded. We will work with those departments to resolve these issues.”

An orange alert signifies the likelihood of very heavy rainfall ranging between 11 cm and 20 cm, while a yellow alert indicates heavy rainfall between 6 cm and 11 cm.

(PTI inputs)