It has been a harrowing time for commuters with roads turned into pools as clogged drains could not cope with the rain water.

Both Wednesday and Thursday, commuters were stuck in traffic snarls for more than three hours at several places in the city, including the upscale Mahatma Gandhi Road and Brigade in central business district.

At Shankarnagar in the low and middle-class Mahalakshmi Layout, about 10 km from the city centre, around 50 houses were flooded late Thursday.

'We're poor people. All my household goods, including some stored food materials have been damaged, as water entered my home,' said a hapless Sekhar Mohan, a 49-year-old auto rickshaw driver at Shankarnagar.

'It is unimaginable. In India's tech city, a spell of rain causes huge traffic jams and houses gets waterlogged. It seems Bangalore has nobody to look after its infrastructure,' rued Sudha Sahai, an IT professional.

Urban affairs and Transport Minister R. Ashok blamed the officials of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) or the Greater Bangalore City Corporation for poor handling of the situation.

The minister has directed BBMP officials to work round the clock to upgrade the city's infrastructure, so that it can handle such heavy spell of rain.

BBMP Commissioner Bharathlal Meena told reporters: 'We're providing food and shelter to slum dwellers, whose houses have been flooded. We have also opened up 60 community centres across the city to take care of affected people.'