Two of Bengaluru’s most-coveted gated communities among worst-hit by flooding

Over the last two days, residents of some of Bengaluru’s most high-end residential properties and well-known tech parks – located on the Yemalur-Bellandur Road – bordering the two lakes that are an integral part of the city’s drainage system – have been the worst hit by the overflow of the Bellandur and Yemalur lakes (in south-east Bengaluru).

Two of Bengaluru’s most upmarket properties where many of the top management of several IT and start-up firms reside with their families – Epsilon and Divyasree 77 degree East – have been the worst hit by the flooding in south-east Bengaluru, forcing all residents of these gated communities in particular to leave their properties on account of flooding of the ground-level portions of their homes.

Tractors plied by local villagers, large trucks and jeeps deployed by friends and family, as well as boats provided by the fire and rescue services department have now virtually evacuated all residents of the two upscale residential properties affected by flooding in south-east Bengaluru.

“The whole of Epsilon has been evacuated. Friends living in Divyasree have also left. All the high-end cars in the two properties have become worthless. The Bellandur Lake overflow has nowhere to go at present so the water is not likely to recede for a while,” said Michael PR, a friend of a resident at Epsilon who was evacuated early Tuesday morning.

“My friend who was living in Divyasree, Yemalur had to be evacuated with her elderly in-laws this morning because there is no sign of the water receding since the flooding on Sunday night and there is more rain expected over the next few days,” said Monisha Arvind, a designer with friends in Yemalur.

Properties at high-end gated communities like Epsilon and Divyasree 77 degree East are valued at over Rs 10 crore.

The Outer Ring Road area and Bellandur are home to some of the biggest tech brands in the world including CISCO, Deloitte, Intel, Accenture, HP India, Shell India, SAP, Persistent Systems, Intuit, LG, iQuanti, Yokogawa, Infiniti Research, Accolite, AT&T and InMobi. Many of the top management of these firms live in residential properties bordering the Bellandur lake since it is close to office locations.

IT industry veteran TV Mohandas Pai shared a video on Twitter of a man dressed as Lord Ganesh wading through the flooded roads of Bengaluru. He tagged a message that has gone viral on social media which says: “Bangalore must be the only tech hub in the world, where software developers travel two hours to get to office so that they build apps to deliver groceries in 10 mins.”

“This (flooding) is an extreme situation and it is man-made. Encroachment and poor management of storm water drains due to connivance or callous attitude of the authorities. This was completely avoidable,” said RK Misra, the co-founder of the Yulu electric bike service in Bengaluru.

The executive chairperson of Biocon Limited, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, said the city had never witnessed such unprecedented rainfall in the past. “Both the government and developers need to take collective responsibility to address water-logging. There is no point in blame game but an action plan that can be expeditiously implemented is needed,” she said.

The government, though, tried to play down reports of flooding in Bengaluru. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai Tuesday said: “Everyday it is raining. The picture that is being given is that the entire city is facing a grim situation which is not true. It is not that the entire Bengaluru is facing a situation. In Mahadevapura, the situation is grim. The encroachments are rampant and we are clearing them.”