Heavy rains lash Raichur, Bidar districts

Breach in Tunga canal in Shivamogga floods houses

Heavy and widespread rains lashed Raichur district on Tuesday and Wednesday. Yeramarus in Raichur taluk recorded 40 mm of rains while the rainfall was 38 mm in Lingsugur, 32 mm in Sindhanur and 33 mm in Turvihala.

A stream near Yaragera overflowed, flooding more than 40 houses in Badesab Colony. The movement of vehicles was obstructed on National Highway 167. Two earthmovers dug up drain on the roadside to facilitate water flow. Around 40 quintals of rice stocked in the house of Dr Abdul Gafur has been destroyed.

It rained heavily in Bidar for more than two hours towards Wednesday evening. Since the drains had not been desilted, rainwater overflowed on the road affecting movement of vehicles. Gadag district received good rains towards the evening. Holalkere and Hosadurga taluks in Chitradurga district received good rains.

Canal breach

A breach in Tunga left bank canal flooded more than 120 houses and damaged around 12 houses at Old Mandali area Shivamogga.

It is said that 540 cusecs of water were released into the left bank canal from Tunga dam on July 26. Water gushed into the tank situated behind Benakeshwara rice mill on NT Road after the breach in the canal.

Water gushed into several areas including Old Mandali, Kurubara Palya, Sawaipalya, Gandharvanagar and Krishnarajendra water works. Within an hour, the canal water gushed onto both sides of the road at Old Mandli area inundating hundreds of houses situated in the area.

Several houses situated in low-lying areas were inundated. Household articles and electrical, electronic appliances were damaged in the incident. Personnel from Fire and Emergency Services evacuated residents of the inundated houses to safer places in rafts.

Though intermittent rains lashed parts of Dakshina Kannada district on Wednesday morning, the rainfall receded by afternoon. In the last 24 hours, DK district received an average of 9.4 mm rainfall which includes 20.9 mm in Mangaluru taluk.

On the other hand, Kodagu district received 7.25 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours. The water-level in Harangi reservoir stood at 2,857.93 feet.

Water from the Krishnarajasagar reservoir in Mandya district would be released into canals for farming activities from from Thursday. The government has upgraded the 300-year-old canal at a cost of Rs 240 crore. The canal is 104 km long and irrigates approximately 18,822 acres (7,618 hectares).