MANGALURU: Two persons were killed when a compound wall fell on their house at Hebbarabailu in Puttur taluk near here during the wee hours of Saturday. Parvathi (70) and her grandson Dhanush (11) were fast asleep when the incident occurred at 1.45 am. Dakshina Kannada SP Ravikanthegowda said the 15-meter tall compound wall of a house belonging to one Bharathi Bhat collapsed because of the heavy rains in the region.
The duo died in their sleep as the compound wall collapsed on the rare part of their tiled roof house. A house belonging to Shekar Poojary in Melupete in Udayvara near Udupi collapsed due to rains while another at Puttige near Moodbidri was partially buried due to landslip from an adjoining hillock.
Luckily none were hurt in both the incidents. Three more houses were partially damaged in Udupi district. Meanwhile, the heavy rains that lashed throughout the day in many parts resulted in connectivity issues at several places of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts as the rivers were in spate and due to landslides.
Many low lying areas were under knee-deep waters. Eighteen persons who were stranded in floods at Shibaroor and Soorinje near Mangaluru were rescued by firemen using boats. In view of rise in water level in Netravathi river in Uppinangady, three swimmers and five home guards have been deployed to attend to any emergency. The Revenue Inspector and Village Accountant are closely monitoring the situation. The present water level in Netravathi is 23.5 meters while the danger level is 26.6 meters.
As a precautionary measure, schools and colleges were shut in Sullia, Benthangady taluks and in Moodbidri. In Mangaluru city some schools declared holidays as the Deputy Commissioner had left the decision to declare holidays to the concerned schools. The heavy wrecked havoc across the three districts.
A compound wall of a government school in Gandhinagar in Mangaluru city collapsed while the approach road to the hanging bridge at Moolarpatna in Bantwal taluk where a bridge collapse recently, was submerged causing difficulty to people to cross over the river. At Mulki and Mananpadi, coconut plantation in scores of acres were submerged.