Non-stop rains that lashed Raichur district for the last three days disrupted normal life. Low-lying areas in the urban centres, particularly in the old areas of Raichur including Sia Talab, Jalal Nagar and areas around Government First Grade Degree College and Hashmia School, were flooded for hours.
With roadside drains getting blocked at various points and drain water overflowing, the roads in Raichur city, many of which were taken for repair works, had turned into muddy puddles, disrupting traffic. The poorly-maintained wholesale vegetable market in the old city was literally filed with mud and garbage piles, attracting stray pigs and cattle, causing great inconvenience not only to farmers and vegetable traders, but also to the general public in the surrounding area.
A government bus bound from Bengaluru to Raichur, rammed into a tree that had fallen on the road due to rains, near Manvi in the early hours on Thursday. NEKRTC authorities said nobody was injured in the incident.
Farmers not happy
The rainfall did not bring smiles on the faces of farmers either as it was too late. Rather, it threatened to damage pearl millet, red-gram, onion, cotton and other standing crops on vast tracts of rain-fed areas in Lingasugur, Deodurg and Raichur taluks.
"Continued rains at this stage of cotton growth cause shedding of squares, flowers and budding bolls. They will also lead to uncontrollable diseases which will be evident after a few weeks," Amaranna, a farmer from Lingasugur taluk, told The Hindu . The harvested onion crop may get rotten in heaps in many villages around Chandrabanda and Yeragera areas.
The rains made no difference for lakhs of farmers at the tail-end parts of Tungabhadra Left Bank Canal (TLBC), who have been waiting for canal water for their paddy crops. "After endlessly waiting for canal water, for standing paddy crop, many farmers, including me, have already destroyed crops at the tail-end parts of TLBC. The rains in Tungabhadra catchment area, which increases inflow to Tungabhadra reservoir, would have helped us. This rains have neither helped farmers in Tungabhadra command area nor helped those in rain-fed areas," Chamarasa Malipatil, a farmers' leader, said.
Bidar
Heavy rain has claimed one life and disrupted life across the district in the last three days. The five taluks received a total of 225 mm of rain, nearly 18 per cent of the annual average rainfall, in three days. Basavaraj Kasheppa, a 35-year-old farmer from Udbal in Humnabad taluk, was washed away in a stream on Wednesday.
The bridge on river Manjra near Inchur in Bhalki taluk and a stream in Nidoda village in Aurad taluk have been submerged. Commuters are using alternative roads. Water impounded in a tank entered fields following a breach in Kalasadal village in Bhalki taluk. Santhpur, Dabka, Chitaguppa, Nirna, Humnabad, Manthal and surrounding villages received high rain.
In Bidar, that received nearly 45 mm of rain in one day, water entered shops and houses near the GESCOM office and in the Labour Colony.
Railway commuters faced inconvenience after all trains from Bidar were cancelled due to a line caving near Vikharabad in Telangana. Railway officers stopped issuing tickets by afternoon. The officers rented 10 buses to send passengers in the Yeshwanthpur-Bidar express train on Thursday. The Shirdi-Vijayawada train was diverted away from Bidar. The Nanded-Bengaluru train was stopped in Bidar. Members of the gurdwara management committee organised lunch for the stranded passengers.
Kalaburagi
With parts of Kalaburagi district receiving rains for the third day on Thursday, communication between many villages was disconnected for more than 15 hours due to floods in several streams including Lower Mullamari in Chincholi taluk and Kagina river in Sedam taluk in district.
Normal life in Kalaburagi city was also disrupted due to the rain waters entering houses and commercial establishments in some localities.
The communication in some villages in Chincholli, Kalaburagi and Sedam taluk was disconnected from Wednesday night and roads were opened for traffic movement only after the flood waters receded on Thursday morning. The rains started on Tuesday early morning and continued till Thursday noon.
At least eight villages in Chincholi taluk including Tajlapur, Chimanchod, Salagar, Basantpur and Nagaral were surrounded by water from a flooded Lower Mullamari on Wednesday following huge discharge of water from dams upstream.
The floods in river Kagina cut off the road communication between Kalaburagi and Hyderabad via Sedam with the river flowing over the bridge near Malkhed late on Wednesday. The water receded from Malkhed bridge on Thursday afternoon. The road connecting Kalaburagi city to Chittapur via Dandoti was cut off by flood waters.
Brindavana flooded
For the second time during this season, flood waters entered the Jayatheertha brindavana at the Uttaradi Math on the banks of the Kagina in Malkhed.
According to Indian Metrological Department, the rainfall recorded till Thursday 8.30 a.m. in Kalaburagi district stood at 38.70 mm against the normal rainfall of 4.90 mm. While Chincholi recorded the highest rainfall of 70.6 mm, Kalaburagi recorded 45.4 mm, Aland 38.9 mm, Chittapur and Afzalpur 29 mm and Sedam, 21.5 mm. Sonth village in Kalaburagi received the highest rainfall of 169.50 mm.
