BELAGAVI: Incessant rainfall and excessive release of water from the dams in Maharashtra over the past few days has led to a worsening of the flood situation in many parts of north Karnataka along the Krishna river banks, right from Belagavi to Raichur districts.
On Sunday, a large number of low-lying villages, bridges and roads continued to remain submerged in the overflowing Krishna waters. Hundreds of families were evacuated from flood-affected areas of Belagavi and Bagalkot districts on Sunday as the water level in the Krishna river has drastically shot up over the last two days.
According to officials, inflow at Almatti dam was recorded at 2.22 lakh cusecs against an outflow of 2.49 lakh cusecs on Sunday while the inflow at Narayanpur dam was 2.26 lakh cusecs and outflow was 2.46 lakh cusecs. The inflow at both these dams is expected to shoot up further on Monday as flow of water from Maharashtra dams into Karnataka is expected to rise sharply.
In stark contrast, other areas like the Old Mysore region, central and Malnad parts, and the Hyderabad-Karnataka region have recorded deficit rainfall. In fact, 65 taluks in these districts are still considered drought-affected. Several parts in Hyderabad-Karnataka are also witnessing a drinking water crisis.
On Sunday, a major rail tragedy was averted near Belagavi on the Londa-Goa route as a huge mudslide along the railway tracks was detected by a group of villagers at Tinaighat near Londa. The Goa Express, packed with passengers, was about to pass through the route when the incident occured. According to Railway PRO Ramachandran, the Vasco-Nizamuddin Goa Express was halted at Kulem station in Goa until restoration of the rail tracks was completed around 7.30 pm.