The heavy downpour in Bengaluru’s Central Business District on April 29 destroyed 4,000 to 5,000 books in one of the city’s beloved bookshops, Bookworm. The area, which experienced hailstorms along with copious rains, which discharged a huge volume of water, entered the store located on Church Street. Most of the books were stored in the storage area located in the rear of the building on the ground floor.
Bookworm’s owner Krishna Gowda said the loss might run up to Rs 12 to 14 lakh. He said that the store had withstood many rains before, but it was the hailstorm that caused the flooding. “It was unexpected and unfortunate. Hailstones created havoc,” he said.
The front and rear entries to the store have drainage points which handle excess water. But the hailstorm blocked the drain points and redirected the water towards the inside of the store.
Water rose nine to ten inches from the ground, submerging the shelves on the ground floor.
Krishna hopes to dry and restore 20% to 30% of the wet books to be sold again at a lower price. “Unfortunately, the rest will have to be discarded. Luckily, most of the damaged books are used books; if they had been new, the loss would have been huge,” he said.
Removing all the wet books is expected to take more than 48 hours, as most of the damaged books are in their storage rooms, located in the rear of the building. Even the books kept in the place where they host book club meetings have been damaged.
On April 29, the official Instagram handle of The Bookworm shared the visuals from the flooded store, causing booklovers from across the city to reach out and offer support. “The reading community in Bangalore and India are showering so much love and affection on The Bookworm– we are blessed to have such a wonderful community,” said Krishna.