A 36-year-old street vendor was crushed to death under a peepul tree that got uprooted in Bantwal taluk of Dakshina Kannada on Wednesday while heavy rain continued to pound coastal Karnataka for the second consecutive day.
The tree fell on the makeshift residence-cum-workplace of Ram Sevak, a native of Unnao district in Uttar Pradesh, who was into preparing and selling concrete flower pots and other articles at Melkar in Bantwal town police limits.
His companion, Deepak, escaped with minor injuries, police said.
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The incident happened around 3.30 a.m. while Bantwal taluk, which received over 90 mm rainfall between Monday and Tuesday, continued to receive heavy rain on Tuesday too. Bantwal town police have registered a case of unnatural death. Mangaluru and surrounding areas, having received over 150 mm rainfall on Tuesday-Wednesday, continued to receive heavy rainfall on Wednesday too. Though the district administration did not declare holiday for schools, it said respective school administrations were free to declare holiday depending on the situation.
Deputy Commissioner S. Sasikanth Senthil told The Hindu that a similar situation was likely to continue for many days, including in July; hence discretion has been given to schools. A few schools in the city declared holiday for the day. Areas around Kottara Chowki along National Highway 66, which get inundated every time it rains heavily owing to encroachment of major storm drains, got inundated on Wednesday morning too. Mangaluru City Corporation had to deploy water pump sets to pump out excess water.
Vehicles inched along on National Highway 66 (Edapalli-Panvel) between Thokkottu and Surathkal because of heavy rains and pothole-ridden road surface during the morning.
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Rains were not that heavy in Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts, though it continued to pour throughout the day in the region. Both the districts had received about 33 mm average rainfall during Tuesday-Wednesday. While Ankola in Uttara Kannada had received 110 mm rainfall, Kollur in Udupi district had received 90 mm rainfall. The India Meteorological Department, Bengaluru, has cautioned heavy to very heavy rain across the coast at least for the next two days when rainfall would exceed 115 mm. There could be heavy rainfall for the next three days thereafter, the IMD said in its bulletin.