Monday the 17th of April was just like any other day this summer. Hot and with very little breeze and very unlike the Bengaluru all of us know. At around 4.30 pm it became very windy and the trees were swaying wildly in the wind.
By about 5pm power went off and Koramangala was looking like a battle zone. Trees had come crashing down. Heavy branches broke off like match sticks. Roads were blocked and where the trees had fallen on the power lines the poles carrying the power lines just snapped like twigs and came crashing down.
Personnel of Bescom and BBMP were completely stretched to the limits. Roads had to be cleared.Power had to be disconnected to ensure no one got electrocuted. Then the extent of damage hit every one. 7th cross was like a war zone.
The BBMP forest and Bescom teams worked continuously for more than 35 hrs to restore power. Parts of Koramangala where the damage was less had power restored by 9pm. More than 40 poles had fallen around Koramangala. Temporary power was given where ever possible.The major work of replacing the poles started the next morning. In a few places transformers had been damaged.The load had to be distributed among other transformers.
One such transformer had come crashing down on the 13th Main in 3rd Block and was resting on the compound of one of the houses. Parts of 3rd cross, 13th, 14th, 15th main had no hope of getting power any where soon. BESCOM AEE Manojkumar had an idea.They had a transformer that was mounted on trailer which was used by them for maintenance.The only problem was the trailer was near NGV and there was no vehicle to tow the trailer to 3rd block.This was when Ramesh and his team from BBMP forest came to the rescue. Despite having worked non-stop from 5 in the evening they still agreed to manually pull the trailer to 3rd block.This was around 12 in the night.The lines connected to the damaged transformer was removed and reconnected to the trailer. These areas got power by about 1.30 am.This was a great relief as this summer has been unusually hot.The effect of no power or water is felt almost immediately. No power means no water can be pumped.
The staff of both BESCOM and BBMP went beyond their call of duty. So a small function was arranged for them to show the gratitude of residents on the 28th of April at the 3rd block park. Members of RWA’s of the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th and Kudremukh Colony all took part in this felicitation. Corporator M Chandrappa, Councillor Ashok Reddy, Koramangala Block Congress President Govardhan, 3rd Block RWA Vishwanath K, Anil Chinniah and others took part.
When a 20 minute gust of wind brought Koramangala to a grinding halt
