With 12 more fatalities reported on Saturday, the death toll due to flood fury triggered by torrential rains in north Karnataka rose to 118.
Twenty-seven people have died in Bijapur district, the worst-hit, followed by Raichur (21), Koppal (18), Gulbarga (16) and Bagalkote (13) since the past five days, official sources said.
Till recently, many talukas in these districts faced drought-like conditions.
Eleven people have died in Bellary district in rain-related incidents this week, while Belgaum and Gadag accounted for six and five lives respectively, police said.
Police said the toll might go up as information was not available from some of the rain-ravaged areas. Hundreds of houses have been submerged and around 30,000 houses collapsed in pounding rains.
The situation, described as “unprecedented” in the northern region by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, has prompted the state government to call out the Army, Navy and IAF personnel to facilitate rescue and relief operations.
Rivers in the region are in spate with flash floods throwing normal life out of gear, official sources said, adding, road and rail services have been severely hit in the affected areas.
Meanwhile, rains have abated in some of the districts which bore the brunt of havoc since last night, they said.
The state Government has announced that it would build houses under Ashraya Scheme to those who have lost their dwellings.
The state Government had yesterday released Rs 100 crore to take up rescue and relief operations on a war-footing.
IAF has pressed into service helicopters to assist in relief and rescue operations. The IAF aircrafts have been dropping relief materials, mainly food packets, in and around flood-hit areas and rescuing marooned people, police said.
The temple town of Mantralaya in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district bordering Raichur district in Karnataka, where the famous Raghavendraswamy mutt is located, was also submerged.
Rescue operations were in full swing at Kadawada village in Uttara Kannada district where a major landslip from a hillock has buried eight houses, officials said.
A team of police, navy and air force personnel was engaged in the exercise since last evening, they said.
A senior police official from the scene said ten to 15 people might have been trapped under the mounds, police said, adding, chances of their survival were very slim.
