In less than two months, North Karnataka districts have been hit by heavy rain and floods again. On Monday, the latest spell of torrential rain claimed four lives and two boys were swept away in separate incidents.
Flood water inundated agricultural fields and entered houses in several parts of the State even as the India Meteorological Department issued a red alert in the coastal districts of the State, predicting “extremely heavy falls” from Wednesday.
A 16-year-old boy returning home after grazing livestock was washed away in Deodurg taluk in Raichur after water was released from the Basavasagar reservoir. Another boy, aged 14, was washed away in Haveri.
In Haveri district, officials in charge of rescue operations found the body of a two-wheeler rider, who was washed away in flood waters on National Highway 48. Another body is yet to be identified.
A nine-year-old girl died when she fell into a ditch in Dodda Hosur village near Khanapur in Belagavi district following heavy rain, while a 52-year-old man drowned in a roadside ditch when he tried to cross an inundated road in Hale Torgal village in Ramdurg taluk on Monday.
Krishna, Ghataprabha and Malaprabha were flowing above the danger level in a couple of places after increased outflow from reservoirs in Maharashtra raised the water level after rains.
Heavy rain in Khanapur, Belagavi, Hukkeri, and Gokak on Saturday and Sunday led to rising water level in these rivers, damaging crops and houses in villages on their banks.
Following heavy rain in Maharashtra, water was released at the rate of 80,000 cusecs in the Krishna and around 23,000 cusecs in the Doodha Ganga and Veda Ganga rivers. Officials estimated that a total of around 2 lakh cusecs of water would reach the Lal Bahadur Shastri dam in the Upper Krishna Project in Bagalkot by Tuesday.
