Residents trapped inside homes for more than 14 hours due to tree fall 

Family trapped for 14 hours after tree falls in Vijayanagar, facing power outage and communication issues with BBMP.

For a family of five on Pipeline Road in Vijayanagar, what should have been an ordinary day turned into a 14-hour ordeal. A massive tree crashed in front of their home, trapping them inside. Around 6.45 p.m. on Sunday (June 2), the tree came down in gusty winds. With power lines snapped, the family, including a senior citizen, managed with candles and rechargeable bulbs. Much later, they realised they had been trapped inside their house.

“When I was unable to open the window, I learnt that the tree fell in front of my house, and we were trapped,” said Vishruth Vidhya Prasad, head of the family. He immediately called the BBMP control room. However, the calls went unanswered, and panic set in. Around 10 p.m., as the charge drained, the bulbs went off, leaving them no choice but to use candles and mobile torches to move around the house and use the washrooms. As they were using the phones for light, the mobile charge went down.

“It was a real horror. The first time we faced anything like this. The BBMP, which is bound to attend to the problem immediately, did not act, and the family was locked inside the house for nearly 14 hours. Although we had essentials to cook and feed ourselves, we were unable to buy milk and curd,” Mr. Prasad said.

On Monday ( June 3), at about 8 a.m., he and his sister somehow managed to venture out through a narrow passage connecting to a neighbour’s house. But the other members of the family were still inside. After they got out, they spoke to neighbours, and the BBMP arrived at 10:30 a.m. The fallen tree was cleared around 12.30 p.m. The family spent a sleepless night, he said.

In Wilson Garden, another family of three spent about 16 hours inside their house after a tree fell. “The tree fell on the roof and blocked the door, trapping us inside. I am a taxi driver who lives here on rent, and my day’s earnings have gone for a toss,” said Kiran S. He said with no power, his wife went into panic mode and they were in fear that the roof may collapse. It was only on Monday afternoon that a BBMP team arrived and cleared the fallen tree.