Thundershowers pound Malnad districts, Haveri

Several districts in Malnad region and Haveri district have received moderate to heavy rains on Wednesday.

Sirsi

Thundershowers pounded Sirsi town and surrounding areas in Uttara Kannada district for over two hours on Wednesday evening. Clouds started forming at noon and by 4 pm the cloud cover was such that motorists were forced to turn on the headlights of the vehicles. The sudden downpour caught the students unawares. Ashwini Circle on Sirsi-Yellapur Road had turned into a pond following rain, causing hardships to the motorists.
Heavy rains brought along deluge of problems to the residents in low-lying areas in the town. Rainwater mixed with sewage gushed into several houses causing inconvienence to the people. The town and several parts in taluk is receiving showers from the past 3 to 4 days.

Haveri

Parts of Haveri district including Hirekerur, Byadgi and Shiggaon received good rains after a good gap bringing respite to the people from hot and humid weather.

Heavy rains accompanied by thunder and lightning lashed Rattihalli in Hirekerur taluk on Wednesday evening. Rainwater gushed into several houses in Hosapete area in the village. Scores of passengers at the bus stand had a close shave after a lightning strike narrowly missed them. The lightning struck a few metres away from the bus stand, said R L Shettar, a KSRTC bus conductor.

Shivamogga

Moderate-to-heavy rains continued to lash Malnad region on Wednesday.
 Hosanagar, some parts of Sagar, Thirthahalli, Shikaripur, Shivamogga, Bhadravathi received rains towards the evening. The rain accompanied by lightning and strong wind lashed Hosanagar for hours. The rain that started around 2:30pm lashed till 4:00pm. Several roads in the town were waterlogged. It rained again after 6:00pm. Shivamogga also received good spell of rains in the afternoon. The water level in Linganamakki dam rose to 1793.10 feet against the maximum level of 1819 feet. The inflow of water was 1827 cusecs.

A 45-year old Jayadev sustained burn injuries after being struck by lightning while working in the cattle shed at Neralemane village near Ripponpet in Hosanagar taluk. He is undergoing treatment in McGann Hospital in Shivamogga.

 Mandya

A portion of Sri Ranganatha Swamy temple wall collapsed in Srirangapatna on Wednesday (Mandya district) following heavy rain from the last two days.

Kodagu

Heavy rain lashed Somwarpet in Kodagu district on Wednesday afternoon. Owing to lack of storm water drains, the rain water remained stagnant in front of taluk office and caused inconvenience to the general public. Though paddy growers heaved a sigh of relief with the rain, the coffee growers are worrying over the loss of crops.

Mudigere in Chikkamagaluru district too experienced heavy rain coupled with lightning and thunder. In the last three days, Mudigere has recorded 68 mm rainfall.