HUBBALLI, 14 MAY

Heavy rains in Hubballi city on Tuesday night flooded houses low-lying areas, sources said.

A Tempo Traveler carrying 13 passengers, along with two cars, was stuck in a flooded service road at the Rayanal underpass on the under-construction Hubballi-Dharwad bypass in outer Hubballi. 

The heavy rain also flooded 30 houses in the Ganesh Nagar area. Residents said they face similar situation after every heavy rain but authorities ignore their complaints.

"The real issue lies with the open drains. They are filled with four to five feet of dirt and plastic waste, which blocks the water flow and causes flooding of our homes. There is stagnant water everywhere. We face the same problem every year. We even complained to the local MLA. We are told that the drains are adequate to handle the situation, but the issue is that they are not being cleaned. In my locality, almost every house was flooded because of this," said Prakash, a resident of Ganesh Nagar.

Residents are demanding urgent and long-term solutions like regular gutter cleaning and better flood management systems to avoid this annual ordeal.