Lightning kills 2, injures many

Pounding from the skies inundates houses; 10 tanks breach in Shikaripur

Two of the dead were struck by lightning in two separate incidents on Sunday. Basavaraj Nagappa Jadhav (22) was struck by lightning while sheltering from rain under a tree at Amargol. Four others, Shanthavva Shindhe (40), Shatwaji Shindhe (50) and Krishnaji Shindhe (12) who were with him suffered injuries and have been hospitalised.

In Shantigrama near Hassan, Manoj Kumar (13) was killed when he was struck by lightning on Sunday evening.

The seventh standard student was working along with his mother in the family farm following Saturday’s rains when he was struck by a thunderbolt around 5 pm. The boy’s mother suffered minor injuries.

At Honnenahalli near Hassan, Nanje Gowda (55) was buried alive under the debris of a wall of a cattle shed that collapsed on Saturday night. Nanjegowda was feeding the cattle when the wall collapsed after heavy rains that lashed the taluk in the day.

The relentless pounding from the skies took a heavy toll on houses causing many to collapse, and damaging a large number.

Shimoga

More than 50 houses collapsed while hundreds of acres of farm land were marooned due to heavy rain that lashed the district on Saturday night.

Rain, accompanied with thunder and lightning battered the City for two hours. Water entered the houses in lowlying areas like Venkatesh Nagar, R M L Nagar and Kumbaragundi. Movement of vehicles along Nehru Road was paralysed for 45 minutes as water was flowed two feet above the road.

Tahshildar Chandrashekhar told Deccan Herald that more than 20 houses have collapsed in Shimoga taluk alone. Water was released from Doddakere near Kunchenahalli by the villagers as the tank was filled to its full capacity. Separate teams of officials have been formed to assess the damage to crop as well as infrastructure in the taluk, he told.

Shikaripur taluk also has received torrential downpour due to which 19 houses have collapsed here.

Taluk administration has informed that 10 tanks have breached here inundating paddy and maize crops in hundreds of acres of land.

Chamarajnagar

Rain lashed parts of Chamarajnagar town and district, inundating more than 60 houses in the low-lying areas near Santhemarahalli circle in the town on Sunday evening.

The rain which pounded for more than an hour created a pool of water across the important streets in the town. The dry land saw the biggest deluge in recent past as storm water gushed inside several houses. The vehicular traffic was seen wading through waterlogged roads across the town. Standing crops in parts of taluk are immersed in water, even as the household items were washed away incurring loss to the tune of lakhs of rupees.

Hospet

Due to increase in the inflow of water at the Tungabhadra reservoir, sluice gates of the reservoir were opened to let water into the river Saturday night, submerging monuments such as Purandara Mantapa and the bridge among others.

As the inflow of water reached 57,000 cusec, 57,136 cusec of water was let out into the river from 31 gates of the reservoir.

With the possibility of an increase in the inflow, more water shall be let out into the river. Hence, people living on the banks of the river and fishermen should exercise caution, said an officer at Tungabhadra Board.