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India: Bengaluru braces for more heavy rain after short reprieve
The country's 'Silicon Valley' is facing an unusually wet monsoon, which has brought 162% more rainfall than average since June 1
Photo: Reuters
Bengaluru, India's technology hub, was gearing up for more heavy rain on Wednesday, after a brief respite from severe flooding, as authorities stepped up efforts to evacuate people and pump water out of inundated areas.
The country's "Silicon Valley" is facing an unusually wet monsoon, which has brought 162 per cent more rainfall than average since June 1. Floods after two days of incessant rain this week brought chaos, and killed at least one person.
While flooded roads had cleared in the worst-hit areas early on Wednesday, the situation iss likely to turn grim again with heavy rain expected later in the day.
"We have issued a red alert for the region. Some pockets may get more than 20 mm of rainfall in an hour," a senior India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said.
On Tuesday, the Bangalore Urban district received 43.1mm of rain, which is 585 per cent more than average, according to IMD data.
E-commerce delivery firm Dunzo said it had stopped deliveries in flooded areas, and was using trucks to deliver essentials where it could.
The chaos over the past few days has raised questions over poor urban planning — as the fast-growing city expanded over the years — and on climate change, which has also been blamed for the disastrous floods in Pakistan.
The city administration has identified more than 50 areas in Bengaluru that have been encroached upon by high-end villas and apartments.
"Infrastructure continues to be a problem, and who do we hold accountable for this situation — the builders who did not account for all of these problems, or the city administration, given the poor lake connectivity and sewage system?" asks Garima Sehra, a resident forced to leave her home on Tuesday, when her housing complex was flooded.
"We don't think we can't go back for at least a week."
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