MADIKERI : Heavy rain continued to hit normal life in Kodagu for the fourth consecutive day on Tuesday, bringing down several trees, electric poles and damaging houses. Traffic came to a standstill on the Mangaluru-Madikeri highway from 3 am to 1 am. Container lorries, KSRTC and private buses were lined up on both sides of the road after a huge tree was uprooted in the wee hours. When dawn broke, travellers and villagers were still waiting for the relief team to clear the tree. But when nobody arrived, they took it upon themselves to clear the road. There was traffic jam up to 2km on the stretch. “We have been asking the PWD to cut this particular tree as it was about to be uprooted. However, no body bothered to do anything about it despite repeated requests. Thankfully, nobody was hurt,” said a villager of Jodupala.
Not so far away from this road, an electric pole fell on a moving KSRTC bus on the same Managaluru-Madikeri stretch. Fortunately, since the electricity was cut off from the pole, there were no injuries and a major accident was averted.The Karike-Bhagamandala highway was blocked by an uprooted tree from midnight to morning on Tuesday. Landslides occurred in various parts of Kudumangaluru village, damaging many houses.
Srimangala town was submerged in rainwater. Many schools and colleges in Srimangala declared holiday as the roads were non-commutable. Maize and flower farms in Kushalnagar were submerged by an overflowing Cauvery River and overflow from Harangi backwaters. Bhagamandala was cut-off after flooded roads and boats took over to enable emergency commutes. Meanwhile, the Thithimathi-Mysuru road opened for LMV on Tuesday.
Overall, the district witnessed 78.96 mm rainfall from Monday 8 am to Tuesday 8 am with Madikeri taluk recording 104.50 mm rainfall. The level of water at Harangi Reservoir was maintained at 2,856.79 ft (out of 2859 ft) and the outflow increased to 13,406 cusecs. Last year, on the same day, the outflow from the dam was 350 cusecs.Kodagu Deputy Commissioner Sreevidya P I has declared holiday for all schools and colleges on Wednesday.
Skies open up in Maharashtra, Almatti filling up
Bagalkot/Vijayapura:Incessant lashing of rain in parts of north Karnataka surrounding Krishna river has resulted in an increase in the inflow of water at Almatti dam. Last week, the dam was receiving a daily average inflow of 30,000 cusecs of water. For the past three days, it has been receiving more than 50,000 cusecs of inflow. On Tuesday, due to the increase of inflow into the reservoir, the water level recorded was 514.20m while the full storage capacity is 519.60m.
An official said, “If the reservoir receives the same inflow for a week or two, the dam will be filled to the brim. Gates will be opened only after the dam reaches its full capacity. In a week, water will be released to canals for irrigation works. People in surrounding villages have been alerted to move to safer places.” As Krishna river is witnessing an increase in water flow, a few villages have lost connection and are now commuting via boats. Bagalkot will have a control room to deal with any complaint.