Pics: Mohan Kuthar/Mounesh Vishwakarma/Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Aug 7: Heavy rainfall and floods in various rivers have destroyed the lives and livelihoods of the people in north Karnataka, central Karnataka and Hyderabad Karnataka regions. Rivers like Krishna, Bheema, Doodhganga, Vedaganga, Ghataprabha, Malaprabha, Tungabhadra, Kali, Aghanashini and other rivers are in spate and flowing over the danger levels.
Over 50,000 people belonging to 11,000 families have been shifted to safer places. Road traffic between Pune and Bengaluru, Vijayapura and Dharwad, as well as train services between Karnaka and Goa have been disrupted completely.
The rain that has been pounding Maharashtra has also severely affected Belagavi. 30 bridges have completely been inundated while water is flowing over 140 bridges. In Belagavi city alone 27 houses were destroyed while a total of 599 houses in the region have been damaged. 80,500 hectares of land is covered under water with over a thousand km of road having been rendered unmotorable. Six government buildings crashed to the ground while 23 shelters have been opened where free food is provided to the displaced people. 96 villages in Athani, Kagwad, Rayabagh, Chikkodi, Moodlagi, and Hukkeri taluks have been flooded. Hubballi and Dharwad also are experiencing heavy rainfall.
On account of landslide, road between Belagavi and Kolhapur has been closed. Several road stretches have been inundated. In some places of Goa, army has been deployed to help undertaking relief measures to help[ people affected by floods. Movement of buses in several roads have been suspended.
In the meanwhile, red alert has been sounded again in coastal areas and ghat sections of Karnataka. Heavy rains are expected in these regions during the next two days. The red alert covers Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga and surrounding areas. Some parts of north interior Karnataka and south interior area are likely to get heavy rain for two more days. I is said that fall in atmospheric pressure on the northern side of Bay of Bengal has created offshore trough between north Kerala and south Gujarat coasts.
Four persons from the state lost lives during the last one day due to rain-related accidents like falling tree, washed away in canal, falling into stream etc.
The meteorological department has issued red alert in the coast, north interior Karnataka and south interior Karnataka between August 6 and 8. It has warned of heavy to very heavy rains in many of the places in these regions with wind velocity reaching 40 to 50 km per hour. It has warned fishermen against entering the sea and people living near the seashore to exercise caution. During the previous 24 hours, Siddapur in Uttara Kannada, and Hosanagar in Shivamogga district got 28 cm rainfall, the highest in the state. Kollur received 27 cm of rainfall, Subrahmanya, Puttur and Uppinangady received 15 cm, while Mangaluru, Beltangady got 13 cm.
Kundapur: A bridge connecting Bavalikudru to mainland, near Neelavar was inundated after the heavy downpour on Tuesday, August 6. The residents of this isle had not taken warning issued by local administration to shift elsewhere because of dangers posed by heavy rains seriously.
The heavy rainfall and winds led to several trees being uprooted in Udupi, Parkala and other low lying areas.
Not just trees, electric poles too were uprooted in areas such as Ajjarkad, Bannanje, Shiribeedu . Due to incessant rains and heavy winds, a huge tree fell at Sri Durgambika Higher Primary School at Shirva. More than 100 tiles have been damaged but no injuries have been reported.
According to the Tahsildar Pradeep Kurdekar, damages in the city are estimated at Rs 16 lac.
Deputy commissioner Hephsiba Rani Korlapati and district-in-charge secretary Maheshwar Rao examined the flood affected areas. They instructed concerned officials to take necessary measures.