Cyclone Tauktae brought heavy rains that partially damaged eight houses and five sheds in Udupi district on Saturday and one person was electrocuted in Kapu taluk owing to a snapped power cable.
A communique from the Deputy Commissioner here said four families on the seafront were shifted to a relief centre at Uppunda in Byndoor taluk while seven families in Kundapur taluk and one family in Kapu taluk were shifted to relatives’ houses. About 60 residents of Kodi village in Brahmavara taluk were asked to shift to the relief centre, it said. Similar instructions were given to people residing close to the Sea in Kapu taluk.
The raging Arabian Sea has caused extensive damage to the beachfront along the coast from Hejmady in the south till Shiroor in the north in Udupi district. Hundreds of coconut trees fell down due to the erosion. Padubidri, Kapu, Kodi-Bengre, Kundapur-Kodi, Gangolli, Maravanthe, Uppunda, Byndoor, and Shiroor witnessed massive erosion.
At Maravanthe village, about 600m of fisheries road was almost washed away by the swelling waters of the Arabian Sea. The area, located to the north of the outer fishing harbour, saw constant erosion since a week and the cyclone only added to the miseries.
Authorities concerned dumped boulders on the affected stretch as an emergency measure even as houses of fishermen were in the danger of getting washed away. Kundapur Assistant Commissioner K. Raju and other officials visited the spot.
At Malpe Padukare, the sea reached very close to the fisheries road threatening over 300 houses in the region. K. Raghupathi Bhat, Udupi MLA, tahsildar Pradeep Kurdekar, and other officials visited the area and were coaxing residents to shift to relief centres at Mogaveera Sabha Bhavana and Narayana Guru Sabha Bhavana at Malpe by deploying KSRTC buses.
Salt water entered agriculture fields and damaged standing crops of vegetables at many places. Fishermen were busy shifting their fishing boats to safer locations in the district.
