MANGALURU/UDUPI/MADIKERI:People of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts heaved a sigh of relief as heavy rains that battered the region for two consecutive days slowed down on Sunday. However, rains continued to batter many parts of neighbouring Kodagu district snapping road connectivity, thereby affecting normal life.
Rainwater receded in Mulki, Adikaribettu, Soorinje, Kateel and other places near Mangaluru. More than 35 families from these places which were sheltered in five to six gruel centres returned home or to relatives’ homes on Sunday. Kumara, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Dakshina Kannada, who visited over 10 rain affected villages on Sunday, said the situation has returned to normalcy across the district. However, he said the authorities will be on high alert to meet any emergencies and the gruel centres will be kept open.
Traffic on Bantwal-Mysuru highway was affected for sometime on Sunday morning as a huge tree was uprooted at Mitturu in Puttur taluk. At Dharmasthala, four people escaped with minor injuries when a tree came crashing on a moving car.
MP Nalin Kumar Kateel who is also a member of parliamentary committee on agriculture and who was a on a tour in Jharkhand, cut short his visit to return to Mangaluru on Sunday. He visited various rain-affected places and instructed officials to carry out relief measures.
In Udupi district, more than 50 families who were shifted from Uliyaragoli, Pangala, Mallar, and other flood-hit areas in Kaup area to their relatives’ houses on Saturday returned to their homes on Sunday. The others are planning to return on Monday after the flood water level recedes. More than a hundred acres of paddy field was flooded in Vaddarse, Bannadi, Giliyar and Saligrama. Paddy saplings are about to rot due to flood, said Gangadhar, a farmer from Saligrama. Residents in Parkala had tough time as rain water submerged their toilet pits on Saturday evening.
Heavy rains continue to batter Kodagu
Heavy rains, from the past 48 hours, continue to lash Kodagu district causing damage to roads and bridges. From Saturday 8 am to Sunday 8 am, the district recorded 73.7 mm rainfall. Taluk wise, Madikeri recorded 119.7 mm, Virajpet 64.1 mm and Somwarpet 37.3mm rainfall. Makutta-Thalaserry highway which was battered by rains continues to be shut for traffic due to downpour.
People wade through waist-deep water to shift body
Udupi: People in Moodabetu village in Katapadi, Udupi on Sunday were left with no option but to shift the dead body of a 98-year-old woman Sesi Poojarthi wading through flood water as the village was completely inundated. Residents here did not sleep and fought nature’s fury by draining water from entering their homes on Saturday night. People waded through the flood water for about a kilometre and later the dead body was cremated in a crematorium in Palligudde. ‘’We are the worst sufferers because our kids and women do not even have a dry place to sleep,” said Ramesh, who assisted in shifting the body.