After The Flood - Reliving the Horrors of that day
24th November a date that still haunts the citizens of Krishna Layout which is at the mouth of the Hulimavu lake. A week after the lake breached, Yashaswini a 21 year old and her family narrate their story like it just happened yesterday. They have a vivid memory of the events which stay with them forever.
While she was getting ready for work like any normal day, she heard that there’s a small leak in the bund. When she went to check the status,she noticed that it was only at knee level and said to herself that it’s not a big deal and felt the gutters should take care of it. On this thought, she left for work which is at a petrol bunk near home. While at work, one man rushed into the petrol bunk asking for petrol and talking about the flood and it then struck her that her house is right there. She then rushed back to find that the water level had risen from her knees to her chest and the entire neighbourhood was soon flooded. Supremely scared, she and her sister held hands, walked home and went straight for their documents which were right at the bottom and of utmost importance followed by the rest. Soon they received helped from their relatives. They started the process of getting rid of the water which went on for at least 2 days but the entire cleaning process has taken a week. She says we have only finished the basic cleaning, there's still a long way to go. No food or water reached them until 6:00PM.
All clothes, electronics, grocery and documents were submerged in the flood. They tried washing their clothes, drying their groceries such as rice, lentils, millets and more which they eventually discarded as no amount of washing and drying took the smell out. It smells like sewage how can we consume any of it or wear the same clothes. The house still smells. She hasn’t gone to work for a week and says that the house has somewhat been restored to normalcy in terms of functioning and she will be returning to work today. All their electronics such as washing machine, mixer, iron box etc cannot be revived and they have no clue how to afford new ones as the compensation of fifty thousand is a very paltry sum to make up for their loss. With a very heavy heart she says that all her documents such as marks sheets, license, voters ID which she says is brand new, Aadhar card all got wet and all they could salvage is the Aadhar card and hoping she can still use it. She says I am a citizen of this country and the city but I feel like I have nothing to prove it. They hope that they will receive more relief and help on this front and be able to resume life like it was before the floods.
While the water was being cleared. A lot of snakes and fish were reported by the residents which were rescued and later left into the wild. A little away from Krishna layout, around nano hospital a lot of buildings were flooded. Businesses suffered massive losses and lots of people lost their vehicles to these floods which due to the negligence of one BBMP official who broke the bund. People will take a long time to recover from these losses.