BENGALURU: Finally, the heavy downpour that was lashing several districts of Karnataka over the last three days has begun to wane to some extent. But what it has left behind is a trail of loss, destruction and broken lives. From Belagavi to Mysuru, incessant rainfall and resultant floods have triggered landslides, inundated villages and destroyed crops.
Though the rain has receded in Belagavi, villages in Chikkodi, Nipani and Athani taluks, located on the banks of Krishna river, have suffered from the wrath of floods. Due to heavy rains in the Western Ghats, the catchment area of the Krishna in Maharashtra, over 1.3 lakh cusecs of water is being released from dams, including Koyna. Authorities in Karnataka too have started releasing around 2.17 lakh cusecs of water from Almatti and other dams in the Krishna river basin.
Families have suffered huge losses as flood waters have entered their homes since Friday night. While 19,000 people have been shifted to safer places, two have died. Deputy Commissioner MG Hiremath said, “We have set up 89 rehabilitation centres, giving shelter to 8,795 people.”
Rain has inflicted heavy damage on farmers in Hubballi, while flood waters have submerged roads, cutting off villages from the outside world. Lakes, streams and other water bodies are overflowing. Officials said 21,732 hectares of maize, soya bean, green gram and cotton crops are under water. Hubballi DC Nitesh Patil said 16 bridges are partially damaged. Gadag, too, has faced a similar situation with hundreds of houses collapsing over the last two days.
With the rain lashing Wayanad region in Kerala, irrigation officials have discharged 30,000 cusecs of water from the Kabini reservoir, and may discharge more based on the inflow. Officials monitoring the inflow near Bavali on the Karnataka-Kerala border have issued flood warnings.