Irrigation Department officials have advised farmers on the banks of the Markandeya river not to venture into the river course and instead, to move to places of higher altitude.
A general warning has been issued to farmers drawing water from the rivers in the district, not to venture into the river course to retrieve their pumpsets.
The Markandeya is in spate and the Markandeya dam and Hidkal dam built across the river are nearly full. Engineers have opened three gates of the Hidkal dam to release water and maintain a balance between inflow and outflow.
The Markandeya reservoir has 2.6 tmcft of water against its full capacity of 4 tmcft.
The Hidkal dam has 36.61 tmcft against the full level of 51 tmcft. The Naviluteertha reservoir has 13.46 tmcft against 37.73 tmcft.
Several bridges and barrages are submerged and there is no traffic on them. Residents are using alternative routes. Minor bridges over the Ghataprabha river at Chigadolli, Udagatti, Sunadoli and Avaradi are under water and people cannot cross them. They are using alternative routes to reach their destinations.
The bridges over the Krishna at Kallol, Ugar, Kudchi and Biradi, bridges over the Vedaganga in Bhojwadi, Sidnal and Jatrat, bridges over the Doodhganga at Mallikawad and Karadaga are under water too.
Inflow into the Hipparga reservoir has reached 1.86 lakh cusecs, while the outflow was 1.85 lakh cusecs.
Despite the heavy rain, the district has a deficit of three per cent this year. It has received 2,273 mm of rainfall against 2,281 mm. The highest deficit is in Bailhongal (34 %), Belagavi (33 %), Ramdurg (19 %) and Saundatti (17 %). And, the highest surplus is in Chikkodi (25 %), Raibagh (13 %) and Khanapur (11 %).
Officials said that water had begun receding from agricultural fields and farmers were hoping that their crops would not suffer much damage.
The waterfall over the Ghataprabha river in Gokak is attracting a huge number of tourists as the river is in spate.
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