The flood situation remained grim in Kodagu with rescue teams, responding to SOS calls, reaching out to interior villages and evacuating people stranded in isolated and inhospitable terrains.
Though the intensity has reduced, rainfall continued unabated in the district on Sunday.
“Rescue teams are responding to the calls that we are receiving,” said Additional Deputy Commissioner, Kodagu, Praveen Kumar.
Rescue teams had been deployed in Makkandur, besides Kalum and Devastur on Sunday, he said.
As many as 60 people were rescued from Mukkodlu, another badly-hit region of the district, on Sunday.
The total number of deaths in the district, from August 14, rose to eight, according to a statement by the Relief Commissioner, Gangaram Baderia.
By Sunday evening, more than 4,000 people had been rescued and brought to safety in operations by the Army, the Navy, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), the Fire Force, the Home Guards, the Civil Defence, the Air Force NCC.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Kodagu P. Srividya said that 5,818 people have been sheltered in 41 relief centres across the district.
Weather forecast indicated heavy rains over isolated places in the Ghat areas whereas the remaining areas in Kodagu and adjoining Dakshina Kannada are likely to have moderate rains during the next 24 hours.
As many as 845 houses across Kodagu had collapsed since August 14. In Madikeri, inhabitants of 50 to 60 houses, which collapsed in Indira Nagar and Chamundeshwari Nagar behind Raja seat, shifted to different places.
“The relief centres will provide such families only shelter and food. The families, whose houses had collapsed, can neither take their household articles with them nor leave them behind,” said Mr. Muneer, a resident of Kodagu.
Volunteers assisted them in shifting furniture and other materials to the houses of their relatives or some temporary accommodation, he added.
Somanna, an agriculturist, visiting north Kodagu along with volunteers, said that the rainfall had saturated the soil with water, leading to bursting of springs from the mud floors of many thatched houses.
Such families are unable to live in the houses, he said.
