Heavy rains continued to lash many parts of Hassan district affecting life, besides forcing the Railway authorities to stop the Yeshwantpur-Mangalore Gomateshwara Express owing to a landslip in the Western Ghats. The train which had crossed Kadadaravalli in Sakleshpur taluk was stopped after reports of the landslip on the railway track near Siruvagilu in the Western Ghats.
The train was brought back to Hassan, where passengers were provided with alternative travel arrangements. As the train returned to Sakleshpur, the passengers wanted alternative travel arrangements from there itself. However, the officers had made arrangements at Hassan. Finally, around 100 passengers got down at Hassan and travelled to their destinations by KSRTC buses arranged by the officers.
“The train returned to Bengaluru. Around 120 passengers returned to Bengaluru with the train. We arranged two buses for the passengers who got down in Hassan. Majority of the passengers were heading to Kukke Subramanya and Dharmasthala. As both Shiradi Ghat and Charmadi Ghat are closed, the buses have to take the Madikere route to reach Mangaluru,” said E.Vijay Kumar, officer-in-charge of Hassan Junction. Restoration work was going on, he added. This is the second such incident reported in Hassan in a week. On Monday the train was stopped at Hassan due to landslips at different locations near Yedakumari in the Western Ghats.
Water level
Many parts of Sakleshpur and Alur taluks received heavy rains. Vanaguru in Sakleshpur taluk received 135.5 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours before 8.30 a.m. on Thursday and that was the highest rainfall recorded in the district on the day. Hettur in Sakleshpur taluk received 67 mm of rainfall on the day. With copious rains in the catchment area, the water level in the Hemavati reservoir has been increasing. As on Thursday morning, the water level in the reservoir stood at 2894.5 ft as against the full reservoir level of 2,922 ft. At present, 16.44 tmcft of water is available in the reservoir. Last year on this day the water level was 2,854.15 ft and the water stored was 2.87 tmcft. The inflow in the last 24 hours was 37,479 cusecs.
