Heavy rain disrupts life in Belagavi

Many low-lying areas remain inundated and water has entered houses and shops in several areas

Goods Shed road in Belagavi city flooded after rains

Heavy rainfall in Belagavi for over a week now has disrupted life in the city.

Many low-lying areas remained inundated and water entered houses and shops in several areas. Homemakers struggled to flush out water from their homes in areas like Maratha Colony, Nanawadi, Goods Shed Road, Anagol Wada, Samarth Nagar and Old PB road.

Around five feet of water flooded the areas near Maratha Colony and Nanawadi. Water flooded the Wadagaon-Shahapur road and SVP Road below the Kapileshwar flyover. Water entered shops near the automobile market and old Sabji Mandi area near the bus stand.

There was no power in some parts of the city as trees fell on power lines and connections were lost. Hubli Electricity Supply Company (HESCOM) officials were busy repairing the lines and restoring power. “We are doing our best. But it will take some time for complete restoration,” U.H. Shindhe, assistant executive engineer, HESCOM, said.

The Kittur Channamma express train from Bengaluru was made to wait outside the railway overbridge as there was water on the tracks near the railway station. Railway personnel flushed out the water and cleaned the area. After about an hour, it was allowed to enter the station.

Elsewhere in the district, residents suffered owing to the heavy rains and continued water release from Maharashtra. Malaprabha water from the Navilu Teertha dam entered streets, houses and shops in Munavalli town.

The district administration arranged a fleet of buses to shift residents of Kallol — which has flooded due to the increase in the river Krishna — to Kerur.

As of Wednesday morning, Maharashtra has released 45. 2 tmcft of water from its seven reservoirs in the Koyna and Warna basin. Ghataprabha river surrounded the town of Gokak and nearby areas. Inflow into Karnataka was estimated at 5,18,567 cusecs, irrigation engineers said. All this water would eventually enter the Krishna river.

Over 30 bridges and barrages were submerged owing to the increased water levels in Krishna, Ghataprabha, Malaprabha, Markandeya, Pancha Ganga, Doodha Ganga and Veda Ganga rivers and their tributaries and feeder streams. The Malaprabha bridge between Khanapur and Nandagad remained under water for the third day.

Travel from Belagavi to taluks like to Athani, Chikkodi and Nippani was disrupted because the roads were flooded or water rose above the bridges on the way.

National Highway 48 remained blocked due to landslide near Kolhapur and flooding at several places. The two roads to Goa via Chorla and Amboli remained closed too.