No let-up in rains; flood situation worsens in Uttara Kannada, Udupi districts

Bengaluru: Uttara Kannada and Udupi districts continued to reel under monsoon fury with relentless showers leaving scores of villages marooned.

With no let-up in rain, the NDRF personnel had a busy day rescuing people stranded in the flood-hit villages in Uttara Kannada. More than 400 people were moved to 10 gruel centres in Kumta and Honnavara taluks.

Gundabala river and Bhaskeri stream are still flowing above danger mark in Kumta and Honnavar taluks. Mudslips were reported on NH 69 near Masukalmakki hill and on Apsarakonda road and Nagarabastikeri road.

On Monday over 32,000 cusec water was discharged downstream from Kadra reservoir. Thankfully, the swollen Kali river did not enter human habitations on its banks.

Overnight downpour flooded many roads in Udupi town and surrounding areas. Roads at Bannanje, Bailkere, Gundibail, Badagupete were inundated with rainwater affecting the traffic. The Sri Krishna Mutt parking lot was submerged.

Several hundred acres of paddy fields have remained submerged for the past several days in Byndoor taluk. The fields and villages in the taluk look like islands.

The situation is no different in Dakshina Kannada, where major rivers - Netravathi, Kumaradhara, Phalguni, Nandini and Shambhavi - have unleashed their fury, damaging paddy fields and hitting the road and power infrastructure hard. A holiday was declared for schools and colleges in Mangaluru taluk on Monday after the weather department sounded red alert.

Baala in Mangaluru taluk recorded a whopping 168 mm of rain in the last 24 hours while Bajpe registered 127 mm.

The India Meteorological Department has issued a red alert (heavy to very heavy rain) in all three coastal districts for Tuesday and an orange alert for Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Malnad region continued to experience heavy showers intermittently on Monday. Mastikatte in Hosanagar taluk saw 148 mm of rain while Hulikal, staying true to its reputation, experienced 146 mm.

The inflow into Linganamakki reservoir has increased to 41,048 cusec on Monday. It was 29,044 cusec on Sunday. Tunga and Bhadra dams continued to clock copious inflows.

In Krishna river basin, five low-lying bridge-cum-barrages across Doodhganga and Vedganga rivers in Chikkodi taluk have gone under floodwaters on Monday. The road connectivity between Chikkodi and Maharashtra has been cut-off. With the Konkon belt in Maharashtra witnessing incessant rain, the flood situation in Krishna basin is likely to worsen in the next few days.