An iconic literary hangout place located on Church Street, The Bookworm was almost entirely inundated with floodwater after the flooding struck on Wednesday. The scenes shared by the bookstore through their Instagram page revealed how devastating the situation had been – books immersed in dirty water, hailstones covering the road.

As per the information provided by The Bookworm, the damage to the book collection is between 4,000 and 5,000 titles.

Bad luck had it happen at an unfortunate moment. As told to Deccan Herald by Krishna, the owner of the bookstore, they were preparing the bookshop with new books just in time for the summer season, which is known to be a peak period for reading books. Therefore, the books they had got ready to sell will be of no use anymore.

However, the bookstore is trying to save some of the damaged books. Some books will dry under the sun and will then be sold off at a reduced cost. Yet, many other books, including books made of inferior-quality papers and those published on recycled paper, cannot be saved, even in part.

The occurrence has generated a lot of support on social media platforms. Readers and sympathizers took to social media in their droves to encourage others to buy the damaged books to enable the bookstore to get back on its feet again.

Some have even cited an occurrence that happened in the same city before when there was flooding in the famous College Street. This resulted in the organization of what is called a “Wet Book Fair” in which many bought the wet books to show their support.

In the case of The Bookworm, it appears that the same thing may happen. Readers are ready and willing to purchase all the books irrespective of whether they are damaged or not just because they want to help the bookstore survive.

The city in question is very famous for its love of literature.