Bengaluru, Oct 24 (IANS): Three hours of heavy rains, measuring more than 75 mm, across Bengaluru on Friday saw retaining walls of stormwater drains getting breached or partly collapsing at many places, flooding many low-lying areas and throwing normal life out of gear.

A portion of the retaining wall of the stormwater drain collapsed near Dattatreya Layout in Rajarajeshwari Nagar, resulting in water entering houses in the area.

As the water mixed with slush, sewerage and garbage gushed into their homes, several residents had a harrowing experience, as they were kept busy flushing out the water out, while struggling to keep their electrical appliances, ration and clothes in a safe place.

Besides this, the vehicular movement too was badly affected, resulting in traffic snarls in key junctions across the Central Business district.

With several reports of floods in low-lying areas and traffic snarls, Revenue Minister R. Ashoka was himself monitoring the relief works.

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Commissioner, N. Manjunath Prasada also monitored relief work through the central control room in the civic body's office.

Along with BBMP workers, the Fire and Police department personnel joined hands to clear traffic across the city, with many vehicles breaking down due to the heavy rain adding to the traffic woes.

However, at some places, even the police threw up their hands in despair due to bumper to bumper traffic with many auto-rickshaws breaking down adding to the chaos.

Bengaluru is not unused to floods as for the last two decades, several Municipal Commissioners as well as elected representatives, including Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayana himself two days ago, obliquely conceding that encroachments on the stormwater drains were a major contributing factor for such floods.

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department has issued a yellow alert for Bengaluru for the next two days, which means the city will be receiving anywhere between 64 mm to 115 mm rain.