As many as 27 districts in Karnataka have recorded “large excess” rains so far between November 1 and 21. Data by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Management Centre (KSNDMC) shows that it was “excess” in three districts and “normal” in one.
If there was a 27% deficit in 62 taluks in October, it dropped to 3% in November, with a shortfall noticed in only seven taluks.
In October, 13 districts and 77 taluks recorded “large excess” rains with a departure of 73% from normal. However, the departure was 97% from normal from November 1 to 21.
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“Large excess” denotes departure from normal rainfall by 60% and above, while “excess” mean rainfall between 20% and 59% above normal.
Massive crop losses
The untimely rains in this period has caused extensive destruction across the State with crops in about 3,79,501 hectares destroyed and 658 houses completely damaged. However, the exact quantum of loss is still being estimated.
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Tumakuru bore the brunt of rain fury, recording maximum damage to crops on 1,05,119 hectares, followed by Chickballapur (56,128 hectares), Hassan (47,029 hectares), Kolar (48,333 hectares), and Ramanagaram (47,430 hectares).
Horticulture crops on 30,114 hectares were destroyed with the maximum damage reported in Kolar (6,966 hectares), followed by Chikkamagaluru (6,492 hectares), Ballari (4,802 hectares), and Chickballapur (4,351 hectares).
School buildings too have suffered damages in rain-affected districts with about 1,225 buildings destroyed. As many as 950 school buildings in Tumakuru district alone were destroyed, according to information from the KSNDMC.
Houses destroyed
In total, 658 houses were fully damaged and 8,495 partially damaged between November 1 and 21. About 227 were completely damaged in Bengaluru Urban followed by Haveri where 126 were fully damaged.
The highest number of houses partially damaged was 1,942 in Haveri.
Heavy rains caused damage to 2,203 km of road network in this period. The destruction of roads was widespread in Gadag where 889 km were destroyed while 295 km were wrecked in Davangere.