Met predicts heavy rains in Bengaluru; 28 sites in city put on high alert

BENGALURU: With the weatherman warning of heavy rain over the next couple of days in Bengaluru city, Bengalureans living in and around 28 sites, which have been identified as highly vulnerable to flooding, have been asked to be on alert and take precautionary measures in the event of heavy downpour.
The 28 locations are part of the 182 vulnerable points identified in different parts of the city.

The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) and the Urban Development Department have asked the BBMP to take precautionary measures to prevent waterlogging in the identified lowlying areas and keep men and materials on the standby for taking up emergency services including pumping for dewatering of underpasses.
"These identified 28 locations may be flooded only if the city gets more than 200 mm rains. At 18 of these locations, water level sensors have been installed with the help from KSNDMC and they will send alerts at four different levels. Sensors will be installed at another 10 locations in the next couple of days,” chief engineer BS Prahlad (storm water drain) told TOI.
The sensors work on solar-operated batteries and send alerts at normal (Green line), warning flow (Blue line), danger flow (Red line) and flood level (Black line) to the officials concerned.
“Once the officials get the black line alert, residents will be contacted and asked to remove cars and bikes from their basements. While, people staying in low-lying area are always kept on alert,” Prahlad said.
“Everyone is on a high alert. Standing instructions have been issued to ward engineers up to chief engineers to be on standby. We have also prepared action plan, which will be presented before the chief minister,” said special commissioner (project) Ravi Kumar Surpur.
Meanwhile, Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun held a discussion with storm water drains engineers and collected first-hand information about rain preparedness.
Control rooms
The BBMP has opened 63 temporary control rooms apart from eight zonal and one permanent control room functioning at its headquarters. The temporary control rooms are equipped with water clearing equipment and other emergency gear besides relief material.
28 Tree Clearance teams
The BBMP has around 21 teams on standby for clearing fallen trees and branches. Efforts are under way to to hire additional 7 teams. Each team consists of seven workers and one supervisor. BBMP has also made provision for transporting fallen trees as soon as they are cleared from the roads.
Trash Barriers
A five-sided trash barrier (a lighter aluminium trap that prevents litter) has already been installed in storm water drains to clear trash and enable smooth flow of rainwater.