Panathur underbridge floods again after Saturday downpour, commuters hit

Overnight rain on Saturday left the Panathur Railway Underbridge (RUB) in east Bengaluru submerged, with water rising to hip level and commuters struggling through the flooded stretch on Sunday morning.

The RUB is a vital link connecting Gunjur, Varthur and the Outer Ring Road (ORR), and is used daily by techies and private-company employees travelling to offices along the ORR. With few alternative routes available from the Varthur, Gunjur and Panathur areas to the ORR, the underpass carries heavy traffic.

After the Saturday night downpour, several vehicles stalled midway through the underpass and had to be towed out. Two-wheeler riders pushed their motorcycles through the stagnant water to reach the other side, while many used the pavement along the RUB to wheel their scooters across.

By Sunday morning, pictures and videos of the flooded underpass were circulating on social media, with captions such as "live from Panathur" and tags directed at the local MLA, the Bengaluru Development Minister and other authorities.

Manoj S., a techie who uses the stretch daily, said the Panathur route already sees severe congestion during weekday peak hours. He warned that if rain can cause such disruption for even two or three days, the entire area will be paralysed. "It's a shame that connectivity to the stretch that gives this city a name as Silicon Valley is riddled with such issues," he said.

Residents also took to X to voice their frustration. One user, Shajith, wrote, "If we can't fix such a basic underpass, how do we expect this government to build tunnel roads?"

A senior traffic police officer said the RUB has always been problematic, but the flooding this time was severe. "It was a Sunday, so there wasn't much disruption to traffic, but such a situation on weekdays would lead to gridlock, especially because S-Cross stretch still witnesses congestion," the officer said.

The situation at the RUB improved by the evening. Similar problems persisted in areas around Panathur, while HSR and Hosur Road, to the south, witnessed severe waterlogging on Sunday morning.

The flooding came a day after Varthur-Gunjur Road made headlines, once again drawing attention to the condition of road infrastructure in the eastern part of the city.