The low-lying bridge between Basanal-Koriyal in Kamalanagar taluk submerged due to heavy rains.
Dh photo
Various parts of the district received heavy rain on Friday night, causing house collapses and overflowing of streams in several villages. Normal life has been thrown out of gear due to downpours.
In Kamalanagar, overnight rainfall caused streams to overflow. Even on Saturday morning, the rain continued, causing school and college-going children to struggle.
On Saturday morning, water flowed over the Basanal–Korial bridge, cutting off connectivity and disrupting transport. Since it is a low-lying bridge, even a little rainfall causes water to overflow on it and seep into nearby farmland, flooding crops and causing losses. The bridge should be elevated, farmer Sadanand Patil of Basanal urged.
House wall collapse
In Balur (K) village, a wall of the house belonging to Ramalabai Subhash Kadam collapsed due to rain that lashed on Friday night. In front of the house of Shrirang Dhondiba Chandeshwari, an electric pole came crashing down, leading to a power outage in the village from early morning till afternoon on Saturday. Though electricity was restored later, a few houses that were drawing power from the broken pole remain disconnected, villagers said.
In Hulsur taluk, continuous rains over the past two days caused severe damage to crops in both town and rural areas. Farmers who had cultivated green gram and black gram this season are worried as crops are being damaged due to the rains. While houses in the taluk have started collapsing in some areas, the overflowing Manjra river has destroyed crops elsewhere, worsening farmers’ distress.
Manjra in full spate
Due to heavy rains in neighbouring Maharashtra, over 1,500 cusecs of water have been released from the Dhanegaon reservoir into the Manjra river. As a result, the river is flowing at a dangerous level, and hundreds of acres of crops along its banks have been submerged.
Crops like green gram, black gram, tur and soybean were inundated in villages along the Manjra river, including Halasi Tuganoan, Kongali, Vanjarkhed, Mehkar, Bolegaon, Narada Sangam, Attaraga, Sayagaon, and Hulasur. Farmers are left helpless as their hard-earned crops rot before their eyes.
Both employees and the general public are struggling to step out of their homes for daily work. With day-long rains, people are experiencing a Malnad-like climate with cool weather and cold winds keeping many indoors.
Tahsildar Shivanand Metre said on Friday night, rain caused walls of houses to collapse in Halahalli village, Gorata (B), and Belur village. A total of four houses were collapsed on a single day. Village accountants visited the spots, conducted inspections, and submitted reports to higher authorities.
All revenue inspectors in the taluk have been instructed to submit reports immediately on rain damage. So far, no house has been destroyed completely. In different parts of Bhalki taluk, four houses have been partially damaged.