Post-flood disaster, ruined Jodupala draws more crowds

The ruins of houses and homestays at Second Monnangeri are bringing hordes of visitors over the last two weeks with numbers touching several hundreds after the rain stopped last week.

N R Sathyanarayana, a resident of Jodupala, said, more than 500 people from nearby towns like Sullia, Belthangady and BC Road visited the area during the weekend. “They were looking at the damages as if it were the Hampi ruins,” he said. On Tuesday, 65-year-old Govinda Bhat had come from Puttur to check the house of his relatives. “Four members from our in-laws’ family are staying with us since August 14 after their house at Jodupala was flooded. I have come to check the status of their house,” he said.

Many walked on the collapsed road to a home stay off the highway to look into the remnants of the two houses which have been washed away by the floods. For Sunil Kumar, and his friends from Belthangady, the bike ride to Jodupala and the 6-km-long trek to Madenadu was “beyond anything I expected.”

“Ever since the TV channels started showing it, we wanted to come here. We started early morning after we came to know that the officials were allowing people to walk around,” he said.

Mohammed Kanakodu, 62, said that the disaster was bringing more people to Madenadu than earlier. “At Madenadu Hotel, we used to have 50 customers a day. Now, more than 100 people are visiting here even on a weekday,” he said.