Unrelenting rain unleashes havoc on Bidar

The southwest monsoon has gathered pace in north Karnataka as most parts of Kalyana Karnataka and several Mumbai Karnataka districts continued to experience downpour on Sunday.

Bidar district, which is witnessing unrelenting rain for the past three to four days, remained the worst-hit with acres of crops going under water and road infrastructure suffering heavy damage.

A spell of sharp showers in the early hours of Sunday left many streams and rivulets in spate rendering several villages inaccessible in Bidar and Aurad taluks. A portion of the embankment below the Sirsi (A)-Sangolgi bridge across a stream caved in affecting the vehicular movement.

Acres of soya crop in Bavagi have been damaged due to unrelenting showers.

A woman and her daughter were struck dead by lightning at Khudavandpur in Bhalki taluk on Sunday. The incident occurred when Bhagyashree Metre (32) and her daughter Vaishali (9) were returning home from their farm.

Read | India's summer crop planting lags as monsoon rains taper off

Hosapete town, Hampi and parts of Vijayanagar district also experienced spells of heavy showers. Intermittent spells of rains failed to hundreds of tourists, who had come to the world heritage centre in their droves to get a glimpse of the Vijayanagara ruins.

Moderate to heavy rain lashed Belagavi city and several taluks on Sunday.

Coastal districts - Uttara Kannada, Udupi and Dakshina Kannada - received bountiful showers on Sunday. The region has been experiencing heavy showers since Thursday evening.

Wet weather to continue

The Malnad and coastal districts are likely to receive incessant rain till July 16.

With monsoon having picked up pace, Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Kodagu and Shivamogga districts are likely to experience heavy showers. An orange alert has been sounded in the aforementioned seven districts till July 16, according to the weather department.

Also, most parts of north interior Karnataka is expected to witness thundershowers and a yellow alert has been issued to these districts till July 16, the IMD release said.