Bengaluru: Waterlogging triggers snarls on ORR, in Whitefield

BENGALURU: Overnight rain caused waterlogging in many areas, especially Outer Ring Road (ORR) and parts of Bengaluru east (including Whitefield), south and southeast, leading to huge traffic jams on Thursday morning.
Inundation at busy junctions like Hennur underpass, Koramangala, Madiwala, HAL (Old Airport Road), Sarjapur Main Road and surrounding areas affected peak-hour traffic.Police issued an advisory in the morning requesting commuters to avoid roads around Sakra Hospital in Bellandur.
Some commuters said it took them over three hours to reach Manipal Hospital from Marathahalli. However, multiple hospitals in the area, including Manipal, said none of their staffers or patients reported late for work/appointments.
Roads in Banaswadi, Hebbal, Hennur and KR Puram too witnessed slow traffic movement. Some places where Metro work is on saw water up to two feet. "We had filled around 20 major potholes between Hebbal and Banaswadi, some of which reappeared due to the rain. Vehicle movement was smoother after we attended to them," a traffic cop said.
The scene was a little different near Kadubeesanahalli bridge on Sarjapur ORR. Although there was flooding of up to two feet near the bridge and on nearby service roads, continuous pumping of water helped in handling peak-hour traffic. "Helped by BMRCL staff, we were continuously pumping out the water using two motors (10HP each). Otherwise, traffic flow between Silk Board junction and Tin factory would been badly affected," a traffic police officer said.