Heavy rainfall on Monday, followed by sharp showers on Tuesday, caused the breach of at least two lakes in the Yelahanka area of North Bengaluru, leading to widespread flooding and severe traffic jams.
With an orange alert issued for Bengaluru on Wednesday, the Karnataka government has advised tech companies to allow employees to work from home on October 23. Additionally, schools in the city have been closed for the day.
City officials reported that the banks of Kogilu Lake in Yelahanka and Doddabommasandra Lake in Vidyaranyapura, both under the Yelahanka Lake zone of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), were breached due to the heavy downpour.
The breach of Kogilu Lake, covering 40.4 acres, led to flooding in homes at the Kendriya Vihar Apartment. Similarly, the breach of Doddabommasandra Lake, spanning 39.10 acres, caused flooding in Tata Nagar, Bhadrappa Layout, and Balaji Layout. The Doddabommasandra Lake breach also resulted in waterlogging on the Outer Ring Road between BEL Circle and Hebbal Flyover, causing severe traffic congestion on Outer Ring Road and National Highway 48 near Goraguntepalya.
“Commuters were stranded in this section for over three hours on Tuesday evening before traffic police started allowing a single lane of vehicles to move through the BEL Circle-Hebbal stretch, once the water had receded,” a police source reported.
Traffic on the Outer Ring Road in southeast Bengaluru’s Mahadevapura Lake Zone came to a standstill on Tuesday evening after lakes, including Bellandur Lake, overflowed, flooding service roads between the Marathahalli and Iblur junctions. An alert from Bellandur traffic police stated that waterlogging caused slow-moving traffic near the Ecospace Junction, with stretches along Sarjapur Road also submerged.
Commuters reported being stuck in traffic for over three hours. In response, police requested tech parks in the Outer Ring Road area to ask employees to remain at work until 8 p.m. to help ease congestion. “All road users are advised to avoid the ORR between Iblur and Marathahalli and use alternative routes. This stretch is heavily congested due to waterlogged service roads,” the Bengaluru traffic police said in a social media message on Tuesday evening.
Record Rainfall in Bengaluru
Monday’s downpour set a new record for the highest daily rainfall in the city, with 186.2 mm recorded at the India Meteorological Department’s GKVK station. “The intense rainfall in such a short time on Monday led to the breaching of lakes in the area,” a city official stated.
The previous record for Bengaluru’s highest rainfall was on October 1, 1997, when parts of the city received 178.9 mm of rain.
Karnataka Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda described Monday’s thunderstorm as a “cloudburst-like” event, which caused severe flooding in North Bengaluru, with lakes overflowing and waterlogging in residential areas and on roads.
The Kendriya Vihar apartment complex in Yelahanka was submerged under two to three feet of water following the overflow of Kogilu Lake. Residents were rescued by State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams using lifeboats. Many residents’ vehicles were damaged in the flooding.
In a social media post, the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Northeast Division, announced the closure of the service road from Kogilu Junction towards the IAF to facilitate rescue operations for those stranded at Kendriya Vihar Apartments.
Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, whose constituency covers the area, stated that the Doddabommasandra Lake bund had breached for the first time in 17-18 years. “As a result, water has entered low-lying areas around Kodigehalli, and the overflowing stormwater drains have caused flooding in nearby layouts,” he said.
By Tuesday evening, the lake outflow had subsided.
The proximity of Kogilu Lake and Doddabommasandra Lake to the main road leading to Bengaluru International Airport caused traffic disruptions, with jams along the airport road and Outer Ring Road affecting access to the airport.
The IMD has issued a yellow alert for Bengaluru through Thursday, October 24, warning of continued heavy rainfall and thunderstorms in parts of the city.
