Heavy rains, swollen rivers maroon Kalaburagi district

Bidar district received a much-needed break from heavy rain after four days, but there’s no let-up in showers in its neighbour Kalaburagi.

The early morning downpour on Friday and the swollen rivers and streams triggered a deluge of problems in Sedam and Chincholi taluks. Several towns, including Sedam and Malkhed, and villages have been cut off by the overflowing Kagina, Bhima and Kamalavathi rivers.

Chincholi recorded a whopping 17.8 cm of rain in the last 24 hours (ending 8 am on Friday) while Sedam received 13.3 cm of rain that lashed the town in the early hours of Friday.

A major bridge near Malkhed that connects Sedam with Kalaburagi has gone under the Kagina river, disrupting the traffic.

The ready-for-harvest green gram and black gram (urud dal) on vast tracts of land have been damaged in the rain and floodwaters.
As much as 40,000 cusecs of water was discharged into Bhima river from
Sonna Barrage.

The live storage in Karanja dam, Bhalki taluk, has gone up to 3.246 tmcft against its full capacity of 7.316 tmcft. The Chulkinal dam in Basavakalyan taluk has reached its full reservoir level. Bidar district has witnessed crop loss on 61,733 hectares in the rain that lashed the district in the last two to three days.

Yeragera holbi in Yadgir and several parts of Raichur district also witnessed sharp showers on Friday.

Red alert for coast

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department has sounded a red alert for three coastal districts - Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada - for Tuesday and Wednesday.

“The coastal region and a few north interior districts are likely to experience heavy showers, coupled with thunder activity, for the next four days,” IMD Director C S Patil told
DH.