Bengaluru: Villas submerged in water; hotel prices at an all time high

Bengaluru residents are desperately looking for hotel rooms as the city continues to experience incessant rains and inundated roads. Hotel prices, however, are at an all-time high amidst increased demand as even luxury houses in the city were flooded after heavy rains on Monday (September 5).

Hotel rooms which earlier cost an average of ₹10,000-20,000 a day, are now costing ₹30,000-40,000 a day.

Also Read: Bengaluru rain havoc: BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, other politicians come under scrutiny

Meena Girisaballa, the CEO and founder of PurpleFront Technologies, was quoted in a media report saying that her family had to spend ₹42,000 to spend a night at a hotel on Old Airport Road as their house in Yemalur was flooded.

Despite the skyrocketing prices, people are still unable to get rooms. Hotels in Koramangala, Whitefield, Outer Ring Road and Old Airport Road are completely booked till Friday.

Residents are waiting for the flood water to recede. Many tried to accommodate in the first floor of their villas but had to eventually move out as the power backup ran out.

Also Read: Bengaluru: IT firms, startups ask staff to WFH amid rain, floods

Guests were seen booking rooms for 10-15 days as they expect it will take time for their homes to get cleaned, refurbished after the water seeps away, said people associated with the hospitality sector.

Torrential rains flood Epsilon

Epsilon, Bengaluru’s exclusive gated community and home to billionaires like Rishad Premji and Varun Berry, was flooded after the heavy rains on Sunday (September 4) night.

Houses were submerged, furniture was seen floating in the water. Residents had to be rescued on boats. Many have now shifted to nearby hotels.

Also Read: Bengaluru grapples with water-logging, traffic jam on Day 3 of rains

Visuals of the society also showed submerged and floating expensive German, Italian cars.

Scenes from the finest housing society Epsilon in #Bangalore where the rich and famous stay. If the city wants to continue the moniker of ‘IT capital of the world’ we have to improve the infrastructure of the city.pic.twitter.com/CpYjE8vGXd

— Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) September 7, 2022

Unacademy’s Gaurav Munjal posted a video of him being evacuated on a tractor.

Family and my Pet Albus has been evacuated on a Tractor from our society that’s now submerged. Things are bad. Please take care. DM me if you need any help, I’ll try my best to help. pic.twitter.com/MYnGgyvfx0

— Gaurav Munjal (@gauravmunjal) September 6, 2022

Ishaan Mittal, managing director at Sequoia Capital, a venture capital company, said in a tweet: “It’s horrific to experience the bottom (hopefully) of Bangalore’s infrastructure. Today we had to evacuate our apartment along with 300 other families. Society (In Yemalur) has no electricity and water. 2 basements are filled with water with many cars stuck in them #peakbengaluru.”

It’s horrific to experience the bottom (hopefully) of Bangalore’s infrastructure. Today we had to evacuate our apartment along with 300 other families. Society (In Yemlur) has no electricity and water. 2 basements are filled with water with many cars stuck in them #peakbengaluru

— Ishaan Mittal (@Ishaanmittal2) September 6, 2022

Amidst the alarming situation, many industry and corporate heads took to Twitter to vent out their anger.

Also Read: Lexus India rolls out car maintenance package for customers in flood-hit Bengaluru

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the executive chairperson and founder of Biocon Limited and Biocon Biologics Limited, termed the rain havoc as “devastating” and said the city has never faced flooding at such a scale. Both the government and developers need to take collective responsibility to address the water-logging.