Overflowing Tungabhadra continues to wreak havoc

The overflowing Tungabhadra river has left several villages and a vast tract of agriculture lands marooned in Ballari, Koppal, Haveri and Gadag districts.

With Tungabhadra dam getting heavy inflow owing to copious rain in Malnad region, a whopping 1.76 lakh cusecs of water was released from the reservoir on Thursday. Heavy discharge of water has inundated the downstream areas.
Kampli and Siraguppa taluks are the worst hit. The river, which is flowing above the danger mark,
has submerged Anjaneya Mantap of Shambulingeshwar Temple and paddy crop on hundreds of acres in Deshanur in Siraguppa taluk.

Check dams at Kenchanagudda, built by Vijayanagara kings, are overflowing.
Tahsildar Sunitha told DH, “The authorities of TB dam will continue to release water into the river downstream. We have issued flood alert to the villages on the banks of the river.”

With the river in spate, the link between Kampli and Siraguppa on NH 49 has been cut off. Bridges on Itigi-Narihalla and Kampli-Gangavathi routes have remained under water for the second successive day.

The river continued to wreak havoc on upstream areas in Haveri district and Mundargi taluk of Gadag district.

Crops on hundreds of hectares in Kumarapatna and Guttal areas in Haveri district. Vitlapur and Bidaralli villages of Mundargi taluk, Gadag district, marooned after the water from the barrage of Singtalur Lift Irrigation project was released.

The taluk administration evacuated the villagers to safer locations. Paddy, sugarcane and sunflower crops at Bidaralli, Hammigi, Singtalur, Shiranahalli, Gangapur, Korlahalli and Hesaruru have been damaged in the flood.

Neelakantarayanagaddi Island on the downstream Krishna was cut-off from the outside world after 1.30 lakh cusecs of water was discharged from Almatti dam on Thursday.

The Surupur taluk administration and the panchayat officials used boats to evacuate the villagers, including a pregnant woman, to safer places.Parts of Belagavi district, including the city, and Hubballi-Dharwad twin cities experienced light showers through the day. Overcast conditions continue to prevail over the north Karnataka districts.