On most days, business founders and employees hail Bengaluru as India's Silicon Valley, although the city is heavily criticised for its inadequate infrastructure.
It appears one of those days when practically everyone, particularly those involved in the city's thriving startup scene, screamed foul, owing to two days of nonstop rain that swamped the city.
On September 5, the city, home to tens of thousands of digital firms and at least 40 of the 105 unicorns in the nation experienced the wettest day in almost eight years. According to the IMD (Indian Meteorological Department), the city received 131.6 mm of rain in the previous 24 hours, the Indian Express reported. In less than a week, it was the second time that a massive storm had inundated most of the city.
While some organisations quickly responded to the torrential rains on September 4 and permitted their staff to work from home, others didn't, leaving hundreds of workers stuck on flooded streets on September 5.
"There have been times over the past week when travelling the 7 kilometres to my office has taken me between three and five hours. The stretch after the Silk Board is the worst; it takes almost 3 hours to travel 3 km there, according to an employee at one of India's most valuable startups who asked to remain anonymous.
"The water logging prevents you from even walking. What work will someone do in a day if they get to work late? This is a significant loss in productivity," the worker added.
The worst-affected areas in the city are Bellandur and Yemalur. These areas are home to many startup offices, especially more recent ones.
Even though just 30% of people who live near the outer ring road are now working from offices, the infrastructure collapse has raised questions about Bengaluru's capacity to accommodate future expansion. Member companies have significantly invested in the ORR, according to the letter that was published in numerous media stories.
Co-founder of Vedantu Pulkit Jain claimed that this time the worst-affected roadways resembled the locations from the film Tum Mile, which depicted the devastating Mumbai floods of 2005. He claimed that despite living in the city for more than ten years, he had never experienced water logging as severe as it is now.
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