BELAGAVI/BENGALURU: The worsening flood situation has so far claimed seven lives in Belagavi district alone even as the army is battling to rescue stranded people in many places. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who was in the national capital to discuss expansion of his ministry, cut short his visit and rushed back. On Wednesday evening, he visited flooded areas in Belagavi and will visit other affected areas in North Karnataka on Thursday.
The water level in the already overflowing Krishna river increased drastically on Wednesday with the release of more than 6 lakh cusecs of water from Maharashtra’s reservoirs, making it difficult to evacuate the affected people. Joint rescue teams of the Fire and Emergency, SDRF, NDRF and Army rescued 25,794 people on Wednesday. The Army has kept its helicopters ready for rescue operations, but they could not take off on Wednesday due to inclement weather.
Making matters worse, fairly widespread moderate to heavy rain is expected in many districts of north-interior Karnataka over the next five days, as per the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre forecast. Belagavi district is most likely to receive very heavy rain at isolated places over the next one or two days.
After returning from New Delhi, Yediyurappa said the state will ask the Centre for additional forces and helicopters for the rescue efforts. While the CM put the number of people dead at six, he said compensation of Rs 5 lakh each will be paid to the families.
On Wednesday, four people died in Belagavi district, taking the death toll to seven. A teenager, identified as Basavaraj Kamble (16), was washed away in the Krishna river when he attempted swim to the banks from his flooded Teerth village on Wednesday afternoon. According to locals, Kamble, along with two others, managed to swim from Teerth to Sapthasagar village, but could not tackle the gushing waters from Sapthasagar to the river banks in Athani. Kamble has washed away, but the two others reached the banks.
In another incident, Yallesh Gangaram Bannavar of Chandanhosur near Belagavi, and Padmavati Patil (21) of Lolsur near Gokak died when their houses collapsed due to incessant rains. A newborn died after a house was flooded near Athani. In the last one week, three people have died in flood-related incidents.
In Shivamogga, normal life was paralysed due to heavy rains. A woman was swept away in the swollen Tunga river while a farmer died of electrocution. Rain fury continued in Chikkamagaluru district and Charmadi Ghat was closed to vehicles due to landslides. This resulted in increased traffic on Shiradi Ghat.
Flood fury: Many major roads closed, rescue operations on
Owing to landslide and floods, many roads across North Karnataka are closed to traffic. The Belagavi-Goa state highway was closed while NH-4A also remains closed due to submersion of Ghataprabha bridge in Khanapur. The NH-4 which connects Pune and Bengaluru, which remained closed for the last two days, was opened to traffic on Wednesday. Thousands of vehicles were stranded on NH-4 affecting traffic towards Hubballi-Dharwad and Bengaluru from Belagavi.
With bridges on Belagavi outskirts overflowing, the local administration has appealed to people to avoid driving on bridges.People atop houses wait to be rescuedMore than 1,000 houses and business establishments in Belagavi city, about 5,000 in Gokak town and a large number of houses and shops in Khanapur were flooded, making rescue operation tough. People in Gokak were seen atop their houses on Tuesday afternoon desperately waiting for rescue teams.
Half of Gokak town flooded on Wednesday as Ghataprabha overflowed.
A team of social workers and activists evacuated about 100 people caught in flooded houses and hospitals, risking their lives. About 30 patients stranded in Nimra Hospital in Gokak were evacuated before the flood situation got worse. Social media platforms were swamped with videos and photos of flooded residentialareas in Belagavi city.
Water gushed into several bungalows on Club Road, Maratha Colony, Ambewadi and most of the low-lying localities, creating panic. Several bridges across Bellary Nala and NH4, NH-4A, Belagavi-Goa state highway, Sulebhavi Road, Peeranwadi, Santibastwad were under water. Deputy Commissioner S B Bommanahalli announced a holiday for schools and colleges till August 10 due to the prevailing situation.
Heavy rain to continue in Maharashtra
Heavy rainfall continued to lash the upper Krishna basin in neighbouring Maharashtra on Wednesday. According to weather department, the heavy rain is likely to continue for the next four days
Infrastructure takes a beating
Infrastructure in Belagavi has collapsed. As per initial estimates, the heavy rain and flooding has damaged 1,048-km of road, 140 bridges and checkdams, 6 government buildings and 2,571 electricity poles
5 lakh cusecs of water released
The authorities are struggling to evacuate people affected by floods in North Karnataka as the overflowing Krishna river is swelling drastically with the release of more than 5 lakh cusecs of water from Maharashtra’s reservoirs