BELAGAVI: Even as villages in North Karnataka are struggling to limp back to normalcy after the recent floods, a flood alert has been sounded yet again in the Krishna basin. This comes after the release of large quantity of water in the Krishna river from the dams in neighbouring Maharashtra on Thursday.
Soon after getting an alert from government authorities of Maharashtra, Belagavi Deputy Commissioner S B Bommanahalli appealed to people living along the Krishna banks across all flood-prone areas to move to safer places along with essential commodities and cattle.
Meanwhile, a villager was washed away in the overflowing Malaprabha near Ramdurg in Belagavi district on Thursday evening. He has been identified as former Gram Panchayat member Madarsab Jangisab Makandar (55). He was on way home crossing the swelling Malaprabha river at Junipet village when he was washed away. A hectic search is on to trace him.
To avoid overflow of its dams, including Koyna, Maharashtra released about 1.5 lakh cusecs of water into the Krishna by Thursday afternoon and it is expected to cross 2 lakh cusecs by Thursday night.In his letter to Belagavi DC, the District Magistrate of neighbouring Kolhapur made an appeal to keep a strict tab on the outflow and inflow into Almatti and Hippargi dams in Karnataka. The Kolhapur district magistrate claimed that the rise in the outflow of Almatti and Hippargi could result in floods in some parts of Kolhapur district.