Heavy rain leaves trail of destruction in north Karnataka

Six persons, including three women, dead

Heavy rain flooded the road near Lalgeri Cross in Gulbarga on Friday. Photo: Arun Kulkarni

Unprecedented heavy rainfall over the past three days has left a trail of death and destruction in the Hyderabad-Karnataka and Bombay-Karnataka regions of the State.

Six persons, including three women, died in rain-related incidents in Gulbarga, Yadgir and Bijapur districts. Two persons, who were washed away along with their vehicles in between Chelagi and Cherana B villages of Basavakalyan taluk in Bidar districts, had a miraculous escape on Friday night.

While four persons died in rain-related incidents in Gulbarga, a 58-year-old woman was killed after being struck by lightening in Bijapur district and another woman died after a house collapsed at Tumkur village of Shahapur taluk in Yadgir district.

Standing crops on thousands of acres of land in north Karnataka district suffered damages owing to flood waters from breached tanks and bridge-cum-barrages entering farm fields.

A major tank at Sirgapur in Basavakalyan taluk breached on Saturday morning flooding the standing crops in Kohinur, Sirgapur, Betegerga, Ladgumpi and Algud villages in Bidar district and three more villages in Aland taluk of Gulbarga district.

Heavy rainfall in the catchment areas of Krishna, Ghataprabha and Malaprabha rivers in Belgaum district over the last fortnight resulted in submergence of bridges, including the Kudachi bridge, one of the major links connecting Karnataka with Maharashtra at the border.

Meanwhile, the spate in river Varada, Kumudwati and Dharma in Haveri district has subsided and the bridge-cum-barrage near Naganur which was inundated has been cleared for vehicular movement. While there are reports about crop loss owing to the floods, the survey on loss is yet to begin. In the last week, over thirty houses were partially damaged.

The three-day rain in Gulbarga district damaged more than 140 houses fully or partially and the loss was estimated to be over Rs. 5.24 lakh. The rain in Gadag, for the past one week, has resulted in damage to more than 1,200 houses. In Dharwad district, more than 129 houses have suffered damages, fully or partially. In Davangere district, at least 12 houses were damaged owing to the rainfall in Chennagiri and Harihar taluks.