Rain pounds Bidar district, claims 3 lives

Heavy rains continued to lash several parts of the state on Saturday, particularly the Hyderabad-Karnataka, causing large-scale destruction. 

Torrential rains continued for the third consecutive day bringing further destruction in various parts of Bidar district.   The river Manjira is in spate as Maharashtra has released water from Dhanegaon dam in Udgir taluk. Standing crops on 49,991 hectares were washed away due to the floods in the river.

Heavy rain has claimed three lives in the district. Madhu, a six-month-old baby, who was sick, died as his parents could not take him to hospital in time due to flooded roads. An 8-year-old boy, who was returning from his aunt’s house, drowned after falling into a road-side pit in Sindhankera village of Humnabad taluk.

The residents of Tegampurkere in Aurad taluk found a body floating in the water body on Saturday. It is suspected that the victim was washed away in rainwater. Police are  yet to ascertain the identity of the person. Bidar district recorded 52mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours.

As many as 2,600 houses are estimated to have been damaged due to the rains in the last three days in Bidar and Kalaburagi districts.

The officials said three teams of the National Disaster Response Force ––  those stationed at Hyderabad, Guntur and Davangere –– have taken up rescue and relief operations in the flooded areas.

Gangaram Baderiya, Principal Secretary, Revenue Department (Disaster Management), when contacted by DH, said he had sent three teams of NDRF to the flood-affected districts. 

“I am visiting the districts on Sunday to take stock of the situation. I am yet to get a report on the casualties in those districts,” he said when asked how many deaths have been reported due to the floods.

Around 250 residents of Anandwadi village in Bhalki taluk had been shifted to nearby government high school as the villages faces flood threat. Road connectivity has been snapped at various places as bridges have submerged.

More expected

Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre Director Sreenivas Reddy on Saturday said a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal has led to rains and floods in Kalaburagi and Bidar. The impact would reduce by Sunday. “But there is a formation of another depression and this may hit the same districts after three days,” he added.

Belagavi and Khanapur taluks received good spell of rain on Saturday. The showers begin early in the morning and continued till noon without a break. However Hukkeri and other parts of Belagavi –– Chikkodi, Athani, Gokak, Raibag –– received light rains.

Kushtagi taluk in Koppal district received rains for around two hours in the noon. According to farmers, the rain is conducive for the tur crop. Several parts of Bagalkot district received widespread rains for more than three hours towards noon.

Moderate to heavy rains continued to lash Malnad region in Shivamogga district.
Hosanagar, Thirthahalli and Sagar received heavy rains intermittently. Shivamogga, Bhadravathi, Shikaripur and Sorab received moderate rains. Most parts of the district witnessed cloudy weather throughout the day. The water level in Linganamakki dam rose to 1795.70 feet against the maximum level of 1819 feet.

Though Mangaluru experienced moderate rainfall on Saturday morning, the rain receded by afternoon. In the last 24 hours, the Dakshina Kannada district received an average of 18.8 mm rainfall.

Kodagu district too experienced moderate rainfall with an average of 20.06 mm in the last 24 hours. The water level in Harangi reservoir stood at 2,843.98 feet.

It’s only a drizzle in Cauvery basin

The Cauvery basin, which is facing a rain deficit, is likely to get only a drizzle in the next couple of days. This may result in an inflow of just 5,000 to 6,000 cusecs a day in the Krishnaraja Sagar catchment areas, , reports DHNS from Bengaluru. 

The KRS reservoir gets water from parts of Hassan, Chikkmagaluru and Mysuru districts. River Kabini, which contributes to the Cauvery basin, gets inflow from Wayanad in Kerala.

According to Sreenivas Reddy, director, Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, from June 1 to September 23, the deficit of rain in Wayanad is 61%. Kabini river gets nearly 90% of its flow from Wayanad.

As on Saturday, Kodagu district has recorded a rain deficit of 34% while the deficit in parts of Hassan which is in the KRS catchment area is 22%. The deficit is 27% in parts of Chikkamagaluru and in Mysuru, it is 26%. The average deficit in the KRS catchment area is around 30%, Reddy said.